The Doctor's Angel
by Detective Me
Summary: Travelling alone after leaving Donna behind, the Doctor is determined that there will be no more companions. But sometimes, despite all our intentions, we find a friend. Often where we least expect to find one.
1. Chapter 1: In Pursuit of Knowledge

**Second fanfiction. Hooray! This starts sometime after Donna leaves when the Doctor was travelling alone.**

* * *

The TARDIS hurtled haphazardly through the time vortex, just barely keeping stable. It veered wildly to avoid 1922 and bounced off a pocket of conceptual space. Inside wasn't much better. The main control room tilted and shook wildly, nearly throwing its sole occupant to the floor. Every second was a challenge to stay on his feet and to keep the TARDIS from crashing. And the Doctor loved it.

A wide grin split his face as he danced around the console, adjusting the temporal buffer and giving a few quick pumps to the helmic regulator. The TARDIS responded with a shudder and a groan. The Doctor grabbed a mallet and gave the console a few sharp hits. The shuddering stopped and the TARDIS landed with a thump, the time rotor slowing to a halt.

"Landed," the Doctor said, looking at the monitor. "No idea where we are. Outside those doors could be anywhere in time or space." He looked up from the screen at the empty room. Apart from the humming of the TARDIS, everything was silent. His smile faded. "Right," he said. "On my own now."

He wasn't sure why he kept travelling like this. To distract himself maybe. To stop him from thinking about what he used to have. He missed them, that much he knew. Sarah-Jane, Rose, Martha, Donna. All gone now. He sometimes considered finding someone new to share his adventures with. But he knew he couldn't let it happen. Every time he brought someone with him, they got hurt. It might not be straight away, but eventually he'd be left alone again, his hearts in pieces.

The Doctor shook his head, pushing away the dark thoughts. He grabbed his long overcoat from the coatrack and stepped out of the TARDIS, into a long, steel corridor. Soothing white light come from now discernible source, illuminating every surface. The Doctor took a long sniff, detecting hundreds of smells no human could ever hope to comprehend.

"Year six billion," he guessed. "Some sort of space station?" A squawking alarm pierced the silence and the light turned red. "Probably private," he concluded. With a loud tramping of combat boots four armed, human guards charged down the hall and levelled their rifles at him. Always with the guns, he thought.

"Stay right where you are and put your hands on your head," one of the guards said from behind his helmet. The Doctor complied with a friendly smile. The alarms turned off. "State your name," the guard said.

"The Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor. Would you mind telling me where I am?"

"I'll be asking the questions," the guard said. "Now give me your name or I'll shoot."

"You do that and you'll be out of a job right quick," a new voice shouted. Another guard was coming down the corridor. Form the way he carried himself the Doctor guessed he was the one in charge. Unlike the others he wore no helmet. His hair was close cropped and grey. His face was lined and battle-scarred. His eyes were hard and spoke of experience. "Now who have we got here?"

"I don't know sir. He wouldn't give his name."

"I did, it's the Doctor."

The grey haired guard looked him up and down for a moment. "And what is your business here, Doctor?"

"I just sort of dropped in actually," the Doctor said. "Sort of an accident. Where am I?"

"This is the Tempus, private research station of Doctor Jarva. And you are trespassing."

"Oh, well, in that case I think I'll just pop back in me box and be off," the Doctor said.

"Oh don't feel you have to leave because of my security," another new voice said. This one was coming over the intercom system. "At ease men." The guards lowered their weapons and the Doctor put down his hands. "I'm Doctor Jarva. May I just say what a remarkable little blue box you have, Mr. Doctor. It managed to get past all the security systems. The alarms were only set off when you stepped outside it."

"It's a TARDIS," the Doctor said. "Best ship in the universe." Jarva laughed.

"I'm sure that's what every pilot says about their ship." He laughed again. "I'd very much like to speak with you Doctor. You seem an interesting man. Would you be able to spare a little time?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Sure, why not."

"Oh thank you. Bring him to the lab captain. The rest of you, back to your posts."

"Yes sir," the captain said. "This way Doctor." He led the Doctor away down the corridor.

"So what's your name?" the Doctor asked.

"I am Captain Dale Scott, head of Doctor Jarva's private security force."

"And what's Doctor Jarva like?"

"He's a bit of a coot, but a brilliant coot. One of the top scientists in the Empire."

"Really? What's he researching?"

"I think he'd explain it better than me."

They turned a corner and continued down the hall. The captain pointed to a door on their right. "He's just in there. It's the main lab so be careful around the equipment. I've gotta get back to work."

"Thanks," the Doctor said as the captain walked off.

The main lab was a large, circular room, cluttered up with large pieces of equipment. On the far side was a large automated door. In the middle of the room was a circular platform with four tall pillars on the edge. Wires led from the platform to a console behind a large window. At the console, fiddling with the dials, was a little old man wearing a white lab coat. His hair was white and thinning and his face was saggy and lined. He looked up, saw the Doctor and grinned with boyish enthusiasm.

"Ah welcome, welcome," he said, trundling over to shake the Doctor's hand. "Would you like some tea? Or maybe some coffee?"

"I'm fine thank you." The Doctor couldn't help but smile at Jarva's infectious good mood.

Jarva released the Doctor's hand and walked back over to the console, beckoning for the Doctor to follow him. "A truly marvellous piece of technology, that blue box must be," he said. "How does it work? My security system monitors all teleport frequencies in and out of the station and didn't detect so much as an atom beaming in."

"It's not a teleport," the Doctor said. "It's a time machine. It can go anywhere in time and space, completely undetectable to most systems." Jarva looked amazed.

"A time machine?" he said. "An actual, real time machine?" The Doctor nodded. "Oh that's simply marvellous! Time machines are actually possible. It's good to know I haven't wasted my life on a fool's dream."

"What do you mean?"

Jarva drew himself up, looking proud. "My field of research is the science of time. How it works and, with any luck, how to manipulate it. It's always been a dream of mine to someday create a time machine. And here you are! An actual time traveller. It does my heart good to know that travelling through time is actually possible."

"Well if you'd like, I could give you some pointers," The Doctor suggested but Jarva instantly shook his head.

"No thank you Doctor. If I do manage to make a time machine I want it to be on my own research. Getting advice from the future feels a bit like cheating." The Doctor laughed and looked around at the lab.

"So what's all this stuff for?" he asked. "Surely it's not all for a time machine."

"No a lot of it is simple scientific equipment. This device here however," he indicated the platform, "is my magnum opus. Or at least my current magnum opus. I've had a couple over my lifetime."

"What does it do?" the Doctor asked, putting his brainy specs on. Jarva grinned.

"Would you like to see?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I was just about to begin the first proper experiment with it when you popped up. I see no reason to delay just because of an unexpected visitor. Come," he pottered back over to the console. "We need to stay behind the screen when it's active." The Doctor followed him behind the screen and Jarva pushed the button for the intercom. "Bring in the test subject," he said.

"What's the test subject?" the Doctor asked. Before Jarva could answer the door on the other side of the room rumbled and slid upwards. Two guards came through, pushing a large trolley. Atop the trolley was a statue of grey stone, an angel in robes with its hands over its eyes, like it was crying. A silver metal collar was around its neck. The Doctor stared, shocked to say the least.

"I see from your face you know what that is Doctor. Put it in the middle of the platform boys. And remember to keep your eyes on it."

"Jarva, listen to me," the Doctor said quietly. "That is one of the most dangerous things in the universe. If it gets lose-"

It will be recaptured immediately," Jarva said, with the air of one being very patient. "You see that collar around its neck? That is an incapacitation collar. If it moves too much or attempts to remove the collar it will have its nervous system shut down. That's good boys. Now come over here behind the screen."

"Jarva I don't know what you're trying to achieve here-"

"What I am going to achieve," Jarva snapped, "Is something truly extraordinary. The Weeping Angels are a true enigma and I believe that their quantum locking ability is the key to time travel. That is what the purpose of that machine is Doctor. It will quantum unlock the Angel."

"W… What?!" The Doctor shouted. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because I am positive that the results of this experiment will pave the way to proper time travel."

"It won't," the Doctor said quietly. "You will be putting every person on this station in danger if you unlock that Angel. And I won't allow that."

Jarva stared at the Doctor for a while. "Very well then," he said. "Restrain him."

The two guards stepped forward and grabbed the Doctors arms, pulling him away from the console. "No, Jarva," the Doctor shouted. "Don't-"

"I will not allow you to impede my success Doctor," Jarva said as he started up the machine. Light started to glow from the pillars, accompanied by a low humming. The humming grew as streams of light branched off the pillars and swirled around the statue. The hum grew to a roar and the light intensified.

"Jarva, switch it off!" the Doctor yelled, struggling against the men holding him.

"Nonsense Doctor," Jarva yelled back over the noise. The light was becoming blinding, swirling in the centre of the platform like an ethereal whirlwind.

Then the screaming started.

It was inhuman. Animalistic cries of pure agony. The light grew brighter and the screams grew louder. There was a flash and a blast of hot air rolled over the room. The light vanished and the humming stopped. The Doctor blinked as his eyes adjusted to the suddenly lower light. Everyone in the room stared at the platform. A figure sat in the middle of it, on their knees with their head bowed. A pair of thin wings stretched from its back, trailing limply on the floor. Smoke rose from its robes. Its silver hair was held back from its face by a band of leather. For a while it was motionless. Then, very slowly, its hands reached up to its neck.

"What's it doing?" Jarva said.

Its fingers wrapped around the collar around its neck. Then the lights went out.

There was a crack and a short scream.

The lights came back on. The angel hadn't moved. Its hands were on the floor, each one holding half a collar.

"Oh god," Jarva said.

Slowly, the angel stood. The pieces of the collar fell to the floor. Its wings stretched out and it raised its head. Its face was nothing short of beautiful, neither male nor female, but somewhere in between. Its eyes were mystifying, the colour constantly shifting, filled with pain and hatred.

And the Doctor was afraid.

* * *

** Cliffhanger! My evil must be showing.**

**Let me know what you guys think, don't forget to follow and favourite. See you next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2: Loneliness

For a long moment no one dared move. The angel stood on the platform, its face impassive but its eyes filled with hate. Then the lights flickered and it was gone.

Jarva was slammed against the wall, a forearm pressed against his throat. The angel's face was twisted demonically, its mouth opened in a snarl, revealing its fangs. It nails had elongated into claws. Jarva's feet were off the ground, the angel holding him against the wall with the forearm under his chin, restricting his breath. The other hand was raised as if to swipe out his eyes.

"Don't hurt him," the Doctor said. He didn't know why he said it. If the angel wanted to kill Jarva there was nothing he could do about it. The angel seemed to pause. Then, incredibly, it lowered its hand. Its face returned to its angelic state and the claws reverted to nails. But it didn't take its arm of Jarva's throat. The Doctor watched as Jarva struggled uselessly, his eyes locked on the angel's.

"Just let him go," the Doctor said, his voice gentle. "I can help, I can turn you back. Just let him go."

For a few moments nothing happened. Then, without taking its eyes off Jarva's, it said, "We will be free." The lights flickered and it was gone. Jarva collapsed to the floor, retching and holding his throat. The two guards, who had forgotten about the Doctor, hurried over and helped him to his feet.

"Are you happy now?" the Doctor snarled. "You've just created a nearly unstoppable monster and let it lose on all the men you have out there."

"Doctor…"

"And what's worse is that you've made it angry."

"Doctor."

"What did you think you were going to achieve here? Was this your plan? Did you even consider-?"

"Doctor!" The Doctor stopped, surprised. He wasn't used to being snapped at. Usually he was doing the snapping. "There's something else," Jarva said. "The angel was inside my head. I don't know how but when I looked at its eyes it was like it… reached into my mind and pulled out anything that was useful. I think that's how it could speak English."

"Did you see anything?" the Doctor asked. "Anything about what its plans were?"

"What did it say before?" one of the guards asked. "Something about being free?"

"We will be free," the Doctor said. "_We_ will be free. Who's we?" The answer came quickly. "How many more angels do you have here Jarva?"

Jarva hesitated for a moment. "Four," he said. "They're all in special cells at the bottom of the facility."

"That's what it's after. It's going to let them all out."

"And it knows exactly where to go," Jarva said. "It knows every corridor and room in this station."

"We need to stop it." The Doctor turned to the guards. "Tell everyone in the station to be on alert. Tell them if they see the angel _do not engage_. If they try to shoot the angel will kill them." The soldiers hesitated and looked to Jarva for confirmation. He nodded and the soldiers left the room, talking quickly into their communicators.

"What are we going to do Doctor?" Jarva asked. The Doctor grinned joylessly.

"We're going to find an angel."

* * *

The angel smiled as he gracefully wandered the corridors of the Tempus. He couldn't help it really. They were all just so _stupid_. It was almost a joke avoiding the humans crawling all over this place. Sure he could have killed them all before they even knew he was there, but then there would be none left for his brothers when he freed them. And that would just be no fair. So he'd let them be, for now.

He reached an intersection and turned left. The holding cages were his end goal, but he wanted to make a stop along the way. Surely his brothers wouldn't begrudge him taking a little longer if it meant more darkness for them. As he walked he passed an open door. The room beyond had a mirror opposite the door and the angel averted his eyes, careful not to look at his reflection. Then he stopped, a strange thought occurring to him. He stepped inside the room, keeping his eyes down. His heart was pounding, whether from fear or excitement he couldn't tell. He took a slow breath to calm his nerves and looked up at his reflection for the first time.

It was… a surreal experience, seeing his own face. Everything was completely unfamiliar, the shape of his nose, the arch of his eyebrows, the colour of his hair. The most startling thing was his eyes. He'd never known his eyes looked like that, the colour constantly rippling and shifting through the whole spectrum. Did all angel's eyes look like that, he wondered. His eyes moved up to his hair, which almost glowed in the artificial light. Silver waves spilled across his head and down the nape of his neck, a strip of brown leather being the only thing that kept it off his face. He scrutinised his reflection for a while, suddenly feeling very critical. The headband looks stupid, he decided. He pulled it off and tossed it away. A few locks fell down, nearly covering his eyes. He brushed them to the side, the affect visually pleasing. He stepped back from the mirror and observed himself with a smile. A quizzical frown passed over his features when he realised he was admiring his own reflection. Does that count as… what was the word? Narcissism? He briefly trawled through the memories he'd stolen from the old human and confirmed that, yes, it would count as narcissism.

As he looked through the memories he remembered what the old human had done to him. Anger surged wildly as he remembered the pain that pathetic piece of carbon had put him through. His claws and fangs grew out in response to the turbulent emotions and he snarled at the mirror, the vision suitably terrifying. The snarl turned into a sadistic grin. He was going to enjoying ending that… Jarva creature. And the last thing the fool would know would be cold terror as he was ripped apart.

The other one though… the angel wasn't sure about him. He seemed young, but his body buzzed with time energy. A time traveller maybe. He didn't smell of human though. His scent was familiar, but not one the angel could place. He would have to be careful around that one, he decided as he breezed out of the room.

* * *

The door to the generator room was locked tight, the heavy steel door held in place by thick bolts. The angel observed it impassively before sidling over to the keypad beside it. Sure, he could rip the door in half, but finding the code in Jarva's memories was quicker and less energy intensive. The bolts retracted and the door slid open. In the middle of the room was the main generator, a fat, short cylindrical structure that hummed with power. A large console stood in front of it. The angel ignored them both, instead heading over to one of the panels on the wall. A simple brush of his hand on the right spot caused it to slide away, revealing a tangled array of wires and plugs. The angel frowned at them and searched through Jarva's memories. He sighed in annoyance. A good physicist, yes, but an electrician Jarva wasn't. Then the angel shrugged. Plan B, he decided, reaching in, grabbing a bundle of wires and ripping them out of the wall.

* * *

The floor shuddered and the lights started flickering. The Doctor and Jarva looked up nervously. "What's happening?" Jarva said.

"I'd say the angel got to your power supply," the Doctor answered.

"Why would it do that? I thought you said that it wanted to free the other angels."

"It does, but the other angels are still quantum locked. They work best in the dark." The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and set it to torch mode, sending a narrow beam of blue light down the corridor. The lights kept flickering. "We should keep searching."

"Why don't we just go to the holding cells and catch the angel there?" Jarva asked.

"Because I haven't thought of a way to stop your free angel yet. The last thing I want to do is be in the same room as all five of them at once."

"So you don't even have a plan?"

"I'm sort of hoping a thing will happen."

* * *

The angel was smiling again as it descended the stairs to the holding cells. His hands were held over his eyes, so his brothers would not become stone. He walked into the cell room and stretched out his mind to his four brothers, trapped in their cages. Thoughts mingled as he crossed the room, heading for the control panel on the far side. He got halfway when his steps faltered. His smile twitched. For a few moments he was frozen. Then he took a step back, shaking his head. Another step and a flinch, as though he'd been struck. He stumbled back, raising his head from his hands. His gaze passed over the four statues standing within fields of blue light. His eyes filled with shock, agony and despair. By instinct he reached for the energy around him and drew it inwards. The lights flickered and he was gone.

* * *

Jarva's communicator crackled into life. "Sir," came Captain Scott's voice. "I think you'd better come and see this."

"What is it captain?" Jarva said into the communicator.

"I'm not too sure," the captain admitted. "But you'd better come have a look."

"Where are you captain?"

"Corridor seven, sir."

"We'll be right there." Jarva lowered the communicator and looked questioningly at the Doctor. The Doctor shrugged.

"Let's go see what the captain's found," he said.

As they approached the corridor a new sound began to emerge amongst the buzzing of the lights and the creaking of the station. At first the Doctor couldn't make out what it was. Then he rounded a corner and the sound became clear.

Crying.

Standing at an intersection with another corridor was the captain, looking very uneasy. He noticed them and beckoned them over with a finger on his lips.

"What is it captain?" Jarva asked when they were close enough.

"It's the angel sir," the captain said. "It's just down there and around the corner. And it's crying."

The Doctor wasn't sure how to react to that. A Weeping Angel actually crying? Part of him wanted to laugh and part of him wanted to run. On the whole the idea made him uncomfortable. He realised that both Jarva and the captain were staring at him. "What?"

"Well, what's your plan?" Jarva asked. "Should we shoot it while it's distracted?"

"Don't be thick," the Doctor said. "It would be on you before you could raise a gun." The Doctor thought a little more, only one idea occurring to him. "Wait here," he ordered. Then he headed down the corridor the captain had indicated. He cautiously peered around the corner, on the alert for anything. This part of the corridor was absolutely wrecked. There were huge dents in the walls. Long gauges ran through the metal and some parts even had chunks torn off. Sparks spouted from some of the larger rends. Huddled against a wall with its legs pulled up to its chest was the angel. Its head was on its knees, obscuring its face, but doing nothing to muffle the sobs. Its shoulders tremored sporadically. Very slowly the Doctor approached. Not knowing what else to do he crouched down next to the angel.

"Are you alright?" he asked. There was no response from the angel. "I'm the Doctor. I can help if you tell me what's wrong." Still no response. "I've never heard of a Weeping Angel crying before. This is a whole new experience for me. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm a little bit lost here. So if you could give me some indication of what's going to help…" he trailed off. Realising he wasn't getting anywhere he heaved a sigh. Then, on impulse, he reached out a hand to put it on the angel's shoulder.

The lights flickered and the Doctor's wrist was caught in a vice-like grip. The angel just kept crying. The Doctor didn't dare move a muscle. Instinctively he knew that one squeeze from the angel's hand could reduce his bones to splinters. There was a moment of stillness. Then the lights flickered and the pressure on his wrist was gone. The angel was in the exact same position, only moved down the hall slightly, away from the Doctor. The Doctor sighed again, and stood up, giving up on trying to talk to the angel. He turned and walked away.

"I'm experimenting."

The Doctor stopped and turned slowly. The angel's head was raised ever so slightly, just enough for the Doctor to see the glimmer of its eyes. "I'm sorry?" the Doctor said.

"That's why I'm crying. The thoughts I took from Jarva taught me many things. One of those things was that humans cry when they get sad. I'm sad. I've already tried several other methods of cheering myself up, but none of them worked. So I'm trying a human method of getting rid of sadness."

"Why are you sad?" the Doctor asked. The angel was silent for a moment, as though considering whether to answer.

"My brothers reject me," it said. "Jarva made me flesh and blood, permanently. To my brothers this has left me deformed. What use am I without my kind's greatest defence? And so they rejected me, and cast me out."

The Doctor was speechless. "I'm… sorry," he said.

"You do not understand. Even though we can never see each other, we are still bonded. Each of us shares in each other's thoughts and feeling. We are all connected in our minds and hearts. But not me. I am alone."

The Doctor nodded sadly. "I know the feeling."

"I don't want your pity," the angel growled. It raised its head a little more. "You said you wanted to help. Then leave me with my sorrow." The Doctor went to reply, but closed his mouth and nodded.

"Oh, you're still alive," Jarva said, sounding relieved, as the Doctor came back down the corridor.

"Did you find out what was going on?" the captain asked.

"It appears the other angels have… excommunicated the angel down there. It seems to have left it rather distressed."

"So what do we do?" the captain asked.

The Doctor thought. "We leave," he decided. "It's only a matter of time before its thoughts turn to revenge. Which means you're in a whole lot of trouble on this station Jarva."

Jarva nodded emphatically. "I'm more than happy to get away from that angel Doctor, I assure you."

"But how will we get everyone off the station?" the captain said. "There's only one shuttle and it's off doing a supply run at the moment."

"We can take the TARDIS. The angel won't be able to follow us that way."

Jarva lit up at once. "Really? You'll take us in your time machine?"

"Don't get too excited," the Doctor said as he reached into his coat pocket. He rummaged for a second before switching to the other pocket. "Where did I put…" Suddenly a look of horror flashed across the Doctor's face. He turned and flew down the corridor, skidding to a halt at the corner. Jarva and the captain hurried after him.

"Doctor," the captain said. "What is it, what's wrong?" he looked down the hall. "Where'd the angel go?"

Indeed the hall was now empty, confirming the Doctor's fear. "It's got the TARDIS key," he said. "The angel has the key to the TARDIS."

* * *

**This seems like a dramatic place to stop. Hope you're enjoying things so far. See you next time.**


	3. Chapter 3: A New Beginning

**Sorry it's been a bit since the last chapter. I've had a bit of trouble working up the motivation to write over the past week.**

**So, when we left off the Doctor found out just how good a pickpocket a Weeping Angel can be.**

* * *

"I don't understand Doctor," Jarva said. "Why would the angel take the key to your time machine?"

"Weeping Angels are creatures of the abstract," The Doctor explained. "They feed off potential energy. That's how they hunt, they send you back in time and feed off all the days you could have lived. The TARDIS has a world of time energy inside it, the angel could feed itself forever. But even one angel feeding off the TARDIS would cause massive damage to its surroundings." The Doctor whipped around, facing the captain. "I have to get back to the TARDIS. Where was it parked?"

The captain didn't argue or ask questions. "This way," he said, leading them down the hall.

* * *

The angel stood before the big blue box. In its hand was a tiny, flimsy piece of metal. A key, he remembered it was called. The box before him, though it seemed innocuous in its outward appearance, radiated time energy like nothing he'd ever experienced. Even at this distance there was enough energy around to fill him to the brim. He quivered as he imagined what it would be like inside.

He took a step forward, the key reaching out. It stopped just before the keyhole, shaking in his grasp. But why, the angel thought. This worried him, as he'd never suffered from indecision before. Now though, the question seemed to be the only thing his mind would focus on. Why should he go inside? What good would it do him? Without his bothers to share in the power, would there be any point in claiming it? His hand shook harder as the questions whirled ever faster round his head.

He didn't know. He just didn't know.

* * *

"I don't get it," The Doctor said, his hands on the door of the TARDIS. "The angel had the key. Why didn't it go inside?"

"Maybe it just hasn't found it yet?" Jarva suggested.

"No that's not right. An angel could probably feel the energy coming off the TARDIS from the other end of the station. It'd be able to track it down without a problem." The Doctor stepped away from the TARDIS and ran his hands through his hair, his brow furrowed. "I really don't like this angel. It keeps pulling things I don't expect. Ugh come on, think. What could it be after? It's had its whole life torn apart, it's upset and confused – OH!" The Doctor's face lit up. "Oh stupid Doctor, I keep saying I need a bigger head."

"Doctor what's going on?" Jarva asked. The Doctor didn't seem to hear him.

"You two stay right here, I'll be right back." With that the Doctor took off down the hall, leaving Jarva and the captain looking very confused.

The Doctor found the angel exactly where he thought he'd find it; the main lab. It was staring at Jarva's quantum unlocking machine, its back to the door. The Doctor leaned against the doorframe, hands in his pockets. The angel knew he was there, he was sure. And after a while it spoke.

"How did you know I was here?" It sounded strangely calm.

"Because you did what any scared creature would do. You got angry, you got sad, you tried to feel better by indulging yourself, and now you're trying to fix whatever was broken."

"You make it sound so simple." The angel paused. "I looked over both Jarva's memories and his machine. They both agree on the fact that there is no way to change me back."

"So what will you do?"

"… I suppose I'll just fade. There's nothing left for me in this life. So I'll find some secluded corner of the universe and wait until I become dust and dreams."

"Really? You'll just… stop? It seems like a bit of a waste to me."

"Maybe. But that is my choice, Time Lord."

The Doctor was surprised. "… How did you know that?"

"Gallifreyan time capsules have a very distinct time energy signature. It is quite unlike any other form of time travel. By the way," the angel lobbed something over his shoulder and the Doctor deftly caught it. "You can have the key back. I don't think I'll be needing it."

The Doctor slipped the key back into his coat. "You know," he said, "I don't very well understand you. I was always told that Weeping Angels were psychopaths. And here we are. Having a chat."

The angel turned around, wearing a quizzical little smile. The Doctor was careful not to make eye contact. "You think us psychopaths?" The Doctor nodded slowly. The angel's smile grew slightly. "I suppose any prey would think that of its hunter. In actual fact only some of us take great pleasure in the act of hunting. All see its necessity, but most do not take pleasure from the act. That is why the ones we send back in time often end up living happily."

"Can you… choose what time you send them to?"

"We can do more than that. When we send someone, we can see all possible futures that could result from sending them to a particular time. Then it is simply a matter of choosing the time where the most often end up content."

The Doctor grimaced. "That sounds painful, seeing that much of time."

"We are creatures born from time. Looking through it cannot harm us."

The Doctor was going to respond when the station shuddered violently. The lights flickered pitifully. "What was that?" he said.

The intercom fizzled into life. "Doctor," said Jarva. "Doctor I'm not sure if you can hear this, but if you can, I need you to head to the generator room. We have a problem." With another crackle the intercom cut out.

"That doesn't sound good. Where's the generator room?"

"I could take you," the angel said. The Doctor frowned at it.

"Why would you?" he asked. The station shuddered again.

"Because Jarva is there."

"Don't hurt Jarva," the Doctor said firmly. "I know what he did to you was wrong, but killing him won't fix it and it won't make you feel any better." For a few moments the angel stared at him, its face unreadable.

"Very well," it said eventually. "I'll let him live. On one condition. He stops pursuing all research into the area of time."

"That's something you'll have to take up with him. For now I need you to take me to the generator room."

"Very well," the angel said again. "Follow me."

* * *

"What's the problem Jarva?"

"Oh thanks goodness Doctor. I really-" Jarva caught sight of the angel as it walked in behind the Doctor and let out a small squeak of terror.

"Don't worry Jarva," the Doctor said. "It's promised-"

"He."

The Doctor turned to the angel. "What?"

"He. You said 'it'. I'm a 'he'."

"Oh. Right, sorry," The Doctor said, chastened, before turning back to Jarva. "He promised that he won't hurt you as long as you stop with you time travel research."

"Fine by me," Jarva said. "The whole subject has been far more trouble than it's worth. I'm definitely ready to move onto something else."

"Wonderful. Now, quickly, what's the problem?"

"Well when you ran off I thought that I could try and fix the electricity, so I came down here and, well…" Jarva trailed off and gestured to a bunch of ripped wires lying on the floor. "I'm no electrician Doctor. I haven't the first clue where to start."

"Right, well, this shouldn't be too complicated."

"There's more Doctor. One of the things that has gone offline are the reactor safeguards. I've checked the readings and it looks like it's going critical. By my estimates we have about two minutes before it explodes."

"Oh that's not enough time. I could fix it, probably, but not in two minutes. Are any of the safeguards online?"

"No I checked every one. The only way to restore them is to restore the power. We'd need some sort of miracle-"

"Move," the angel said shortly, pushing Jarva to the side. Both hand clamped onto the sides of the Doctor face and before he knew it he was staring into the angel's constantly shifting eyes. A presence entered his mind, vast, strange and alien, shifting through information at a startling rate, dismissing each new fact as it came. The Doctor quickly realised what he was doing and pushed the information he needed to the front of his mind. In an instant the angel absorbed it all and then the Doctor was let go. He staggered away from the angel, who had immediately grabbed the wires off the floor. His hands became blurs as wires were reconnected and repaired at impossible speeds.

"A minute and a half left," Jarva called from the console. "Tell me when you've fixed it so I can start the safeguards back up.

A minute and a half will be more than enough, the Doctor thought as the number of wires in the angel's hand dwindled. Then the last one was rewired, the panel closed and the angel yelled, "Done." Jarva put a few commands into the console. For a second nothing happened. Then the lights stabilised and the worrying vibrations of the station stopped. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. Jarva leaned over the console, also relived. The angel, for his part, looked quite unruffled.

"Thank you," the Doctor said. The angel looked surprised.

"You're… welcome," he said. The Doctor noticed a small half-smile as he said it.

* * *

The angel sat in the viewing room, staring out at the black void of space through the window that took up a whole wall. He was busy picking a place to fade away. He wanted somewhere out of the way, somewhere no one would find him.

The Doctor came in and sat beside him. He didn't react and, for a while, the Doctor didn't speak.

"Jarva's packing up his things, and so are all his guards. They all look very happy to be getting off this station." The angel didn't respond. "They're going to be taking the shuttle when it gets back. Jarva's going to leave the power running so the cages keeping the angels in stay active."

"That is nice."

"…What are you going to do? Are you still thinking of waiting til you turn to dust?"

"For now, yes. I may get bored of that though. Fading takes a long time for an angel. Especially an angel that doesn't do anything. After a few decades I may end up changing my mind. Only time will tell."

There was a long pause

"… You could… come with me."

The angel looked at the Doctor. "What?"

"Travel with me. In the TARDIS. All of time and space, anywhere and any-when in the universe. You could see it all."

The angel narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Because you decided not to kill. You decided not to take the TARDIS when had the key. And you saved everyone's lives."

The angel looked back out the window. He didn't quite follow the Doctor's logic. "Why would you trust me enough to let me into the… TARDIS?"

"Like I said, you could have taken it, but you didn't."

"I… see," the angel said, even though he didn't. He supposed it made sense to the Doctor. "You still haven't adequately answered my question though. Why would you take me with you?"

The Doctor looked at him. "I don't know," he said. "Because you're different. Because you're extraordinary. Because I think I can help you."

"Help me?"

"Find a new purpose. Cause I don't think any creature, no matter how powerful or insignificant, should just sit around and wait to die." He grinned roguishly. "So what do you say?" He stretched out a hand. "Will you travel with me?"

The angel considered for a few moments. Then, slowly, he put his hand on the Doctor's. "Alright Doctor. I think I will."

* * *

**And so the Doctor was joined by a new companion. What journeys lie ahead for the two of them? Only time, and the next chapters, will **

**Favourite! Follow! Review! And thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4: New London, Centuria

**Do-do-do-do do-do-do-do do-do-do-do**

**OOOOWEEEOOOOOOOOOO!**

***ahem*... sorry 'bout that. Just got a bit enthusiastic.**

* * *

Being inside the TARDIS was indescribable. The amount of energy the angel had felt from outside the box was nothing compared to what surrounded him now. The energy in here was not only stronger but also more… alive. It wasn't exactly sentient but it had will, it had intent. The only apt description he could think of was that the TARDIS had a soul. The overall effect left him feeling a little drunk.

The angel wobbled unsteadily on his feet as the TARDIS rocked back and forth. The Doctor was running around the central console, grinning like a lunatic. The angel got the feeling he actually enjoyed it when he flew like this. And he wouldn't shut up. Half of what he was yammering on about didn't register to the angel, who was still busy trying to stay upright. Something about travelling everywhere and not wandering off possibly. He'd figure out the specifics after his head stopped spinning.

"Doctor," he yelled over the groaning, wheezing sound of the engines. "Could you please fly straight for five minutes?"

"Don't worry," the Doctor said, actually climbing over the console to reach a lever. "We're almost… there!" There was a thud and the entire ship shuddered, sending the angel to the ground. He groaned a little as his head swam. The Doctor stepped up beside him and offered a hand. The angel glared for a second then took the hand, allowing the Doctor to pull him to his feet.

"Where are we?" he asked. The Doctor grinned.

"Why don't you go see for yourself?" he asked, jerking his head at the door. The angel raised an eyebrow, then marched up to the doors and pulled them open, stepping out into the bright sunlit. Graceful, flowing buildings lined either side of the street, white walls gleaming in the sun. A row of trees was planted down the middle of the road and dozens of people wandered along, gazing through the windows at the goods on display. Apparently the TARDIS had landed in the middle of this place's shopping area. No one seemed to have noticed it landing, which the angel thought was odd.

"The planet Centuria," The Doctor said as he stepped out behind the angel. "Early forty seventh century. And this is the city of New London. Well technically it's New New New New London but no one seems to mind."

"Why here?"

"Well, at about this time there was a fad going about for body modifications. Means you won't stand out with the wings."

"Hmm, good thinking. So what do we do now?" The Doctor shrugged.

"You hungry?" he asked. Then he frowned. "Actually for that matter can you eat?"

The angel nodded. "I can eat physical food. I never have before though. I never really needed to."

"Come on then," the Doctor said. "Let's go find something to eat. Oh hang on, we'll need money first." He looked around for a moment and spotted a credit terminal. He walked over to it, the angel trailing after him, and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. With a quick interface the terminal spat out palm sized steel chip. "Credit chip," the Doctor said, turning back to the angel. "Now then… um… Sorry, I just realised. What's your name?"

The angel blinked, hesitated then shrugged. "I… don't have one. I've never needed one before."

"Hmm." The Doctor thought for a moment. "Well, we'll have to figure that out later. Anyway I was going to ask what you wanted to try."

"Uh… I don't know… how about… that place there?"

"Good idea. Come on."

* * *

"Just go on," the Doctor grinned as the angel looked cautiously at the burger in his hands. "Go on take a bite."

The angel hesitated then raised the burger to his mouth and took a small nibble. Then a bigger one. Then finally a proper bite. His eyes widened as he chewed to mouthful. "This is delicious," the mumbled, taking another bite.

The Doctor grinned as the angel proceeded to stuff his face.

* * *

The Doctor stood with his arms crossed while the angel vomited nosily into a bin. After a minute or two he slowly stood back up, wiping the corners of his mouth.

"Never eating again," he croaked. "That was horrible."

"You enjoyed eating at the time though, right?" The Doctor said with an encouraging smile. The angel gave him a glare. "Look it probably only happened because your system isn't used to having to digest food like that. And you did eat quite a lot." The angel grumbled something unintelligible. "Hey, why don't we get something to drink? Help get the taste out of your mouth."

* * *

"This is quite nice," the angel said as he drank his smoothie. "It's very sweet and tart at the same time."

"Jarva must have had quite the vocabulary," the Doctor observed. The angel shrugged.

"Some of it's from him, some of it I actually got from you," the angel said. He noticed the Doctor's alarmed look and sighed. "It wasn't a thing I deliberately did. It's just a side effect of mind walking, what you call telepathy. Some slight background information absorption, nothing more." The angel took another sip of the smoothie. "Mm, this is really good."

* * *

The Doctor stood with his arms crossed outside a closed stall in a public restroom. The door opened and the angel popped his head out.

"I have to aim what at the what?"

* * *

The Doctor noticed the grin on the angel's face. He finally seemed to be cheering up if a smile was any way to judge.

"Where else should we go?" the angel asked.

The Doctor thought for a second before saying, "Tell you what, why don't you do some shopping for a little? I'll head back to the TARDIS and wait for you there. Here's the credit chip, try not to spend it all."

The angel caught the chip that was tossed to him and gave another grin. "Don't leave without me."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

The angel watched as the Doctor walked back down the street before looking around, wondering which shop to go to next. He wasn't interested in any more food or drink. What else was there? He wandered along, eyeing everything in the windows for something of interest.

"Oh my heavens," someone cried. A woman came marching out of a nearby store, heading straight for the angel. Her suit and heels were immaculate and fit her perfectly, her dark brown hair intricately styled. She stopped before the angel and looked him up and down critically. She shook her head.

"Darling, ancient Greek robes went out of style last year," she said. "You simply must get into something more fashionable."

The angel, completely wrong-footed, looked down at his robe. "But this is all I have," he said dumbly. The strange lady gasped, horrified.

"Then you need to come into my shop right away," she said, grabbing the angel by the hand and pulling him forward. The angel, still having no idea what was happening, allowed himself to be led across the street and into her store. Racks upon racks of clothes covered the walls, and even more racks were laid out across the floor. The lady released his hand and turned. "Welcome to Madame Lysande's Clothing Emporium. We'll fit anyone, no matter what size, shape or species. Now darling, what's our name?"

"Um… I don't have one."

Madame Lysande looked surprised. "Don't be silly," she said. "Of course you must have a name." The angel shook his head. "Really?" She frowned. "How odd." Then she smiled. "I shall simply have to come up with one for you then."

The angel's eyes widened. "Oh, no you really don't have to-"

"Oh don't make a fuss dear," Lysande said. "Now stay still so I can think." The angel sighed and did as she said, feeling uncomfortable. Lysande looked him up and down, chewing lightly on a nail as she did. For several long minutes she stood there deep in thought.

"How about Alexander Silver?" she asked.

The angel blinked. "Um… I guess it's nice…"

"Oh no, you're not seeing the beauty of it," Lysande said, looking very excited. "I chose Alexander because of the stone Alexandrite, which changes colour depending on the light, sort of like what happens with your eyes. I love those, by the way, and the wings. Where did you get them done? Sorry, I'm getting distracted. Where was I? Oh, yes, silver I chose simply because of your hair colour. So, do you like it?" She gave him an expectant smile.

"Um… I guess."

Lysande shrugged. "It's only a suggestion, you don't actually have to use it. But I think it fits you perfectly. Now let's see about those clothes." Before the angel could react she'd grabbed his hand and pulled him deeper into the shop, grabbing many articles of clothing of the racks as she went.

* * *

The Doctor hummed as he walked up to the TARDIS. That should keep him busy for a bit, he thought as he unlocked the door. He stepped into the box, closing the door behind him, and threw his trench coat over the railings. He flicked a couple of switches on the console and brought the monitor around.

"Where should I go next," he said to himself, already searching through a list of places and times. "New Delta is nice. Ooh, surfing the plasma waves of Limura Five. Or maybe… hang on." He frowned and leaned closer to the monitor, fiddling with the controls. "That's interesting. That's definitely not supposed to be there. Should probably leave it alone." He stood still for maybe two seconds before grinning and rushing out the door, grabbing his coat as he did. Just a little investigation, he reasoned. It shouldn't take too long.

* * *

"Now that's very nice," Lysande said. "It's a bit of a retro look but I think it'll be coming back soon."

The angel tilted his head as he looked at his reflection. The sleeveless hoodie and white t-shirt were perfectly fitted, with holes in the back for his wings. The cuffs of his dark blue jeans were tucked into a pair of black, calf-length boots.

"Yeah," he said. "It is kinda nice." A thought occurred to him. "I don't know if I have enough money to pay for this."

"Do you have a credit chip on you?" Lysande asked. The angel nodded and passed over the chip. Lysande trotted over to the counter and ran the chip through her computer. "Someone likes you," she called. She pulled the chip from the computer and walked back over. "This chip has unlimited credits." She handed it back and smiled. "Shall we try on something different?"

"Oh, uh, no. I'm fine with this," the angel said.

"Oh come now dear. Let's find you a couple more outfits."

The angel gave a small whimper as Lysande went to find more clothes. He'd seen many terrifying things in his long life, but this woman's enthusiasm was somehow more unnerving than any of them.

* * *

An hour or so later the angel finally walked out of the Emporium, wearing the first outfit he'd tried on and carrying several bags with yet more clothes in them. "Thank you Madame Lysande," he said.

"Thank you," Lysande said. "And have a nice day Alexander." The angel gave her a questioning look over his shoulder. She shrugged. "The name really works for you." The angel grinned and gave her a wave before heading off.

A few minutes later he was back at the TARDIS. "Doctor," he called, knocking on the door. "It's me, open the door please." He paused. There was no reply. "Doctor," he said a little louder. He huffed. "Great. What's he doing in there? Doctor!" He thumped on the door, which clicked and swung open. The angel smiled and walked in. "Finally. Doctor?" He gave the console room a quickly look over, but the Time Lord was nowhere to be seen. "Hmm..."

He put his bags down near the console, looking it over carefully. Something on the screen caught his eye. It looked like a map of the surrounding area. Overlaying a large portion of it was a long red smudge, like a trail of something. "What is that?" the angel asked to no one. To his surprise the screen responded with a small beep and a label that read 'Warp Drive Radiation'. The angel sighed. "That's probably where he's gone. Moron. How long ago did he leave?" This time the question was deliberate, and he was rewarded with a beep and the screen changing to an image of the Doctor rushing out the doors. The time was shown in small numbers in the corner. "Nearly an hour ago?" the angel said. "Then where is he?" He thought for a few seconds then sighed. "I'm going to have to go get him aren't I?" The console beeped. "Fine then." He marched out of the TARDIS and took a long, deep sniff. Time Lord was a very distinctive smell, thankfully. He wouldn't be too hard to track. He closed the door and headed off, following the Doctor's scent like a bloodhound.

* * *

**What do you guys think of that name? Fun fact that is actually how I came up with it. Letting you guys see a little of the creative process that goes into this thing.**


	5. Chapter 5: New London Pt 2

The Doctor walked lightly down the alley, sonic screwdriver held before him, scanning the area. He was trying to home in on the warp radiation's origin, but the sheer amount of radiation saturating the area was making it difficult. It was weird, the Doctor couldn't fathom any reason why there would be that much of it coming from a planet's surface. Still, at least warp radiation was harmless. You could probably pick this trail up from orbit though.

The Doctor turned a corner into another alley. Following the radiation trail had led him to a more back-end part of the city, full of narrow alleyways winding between huge shipping warehouses. The pitch of the screwdriver lowered as he moved forward, signalling that he was moving away from the source of the radiation. He turned on his heel and went back the other way. This was starting to get frustrating. He'd been wandering around these backstreets for nearly half an hour and was getting impatient for something to happen. Then the sound of something clattering over the ground reached him. He switched off the screwdriver and cautiously crept up to the corner. He poked his head around the corner just as something flickered around the corner at the other end of the alley. His mind made up, the Doctor quietly jogged up the street, slowing as he reached the corner. The sound of a door rolling closed reached him. He took a peek and found the street empty. Right at the end was a door to a large warehouse. The Doctor glided up to it, scanning over his shoulder before rolling it open as quietly as he could. He slipped through the gap and closed door behind him, before turning around and freezing.

"Oh," was all he said.

The warehouse was empty, except for the large ship that stretched from one wall the other. The craft was dark grey and bulky, with no interest in symmetry or elegance. Large cannons decked the hull, all positioned for maximum effectiveness in battle. Above the ship the roof of the warehouse had been removed. At a guess, the Doctor would say this was the source of the warp radiation.

"Hold it right there," said rasping voice said behind him. The Doctor whipped around, coming face to face with a trio of creatures. Their heads were bulbous, with large compound eyes and no noses. Their lips were drawn back off their needle-like teeth in a violent snarl. The rest of their bodies were human-like, covered in black, armoured suits and each carried a blaster rifle.

"Who are you?" the creature in front snarled.

"I'm the Doctor. Who're you?"

The creature gave a rasping hissing sound which the Doctor realised was a laugh. "Soon we shall be your masters, human. For we are the Skrasvi."

"Yeah I already knew that." the Doctor said. The creature hissed.

"You claim to know us? You know nothing of us."

"Oh no I know loads about you," the Doctor said, disgust evident in his voice. "The Skrasvi, a race of interplanetary slavers and conquerors. You hop from planet to planet, enslaving the population and taking all the resources you can. Once the planet's of no more use to you, you take whoever's still alive and move on to the next planet."

The Skrasvi in charge hesitated. "So you do know of us."

"And I'm going to give you one warning. Leave this planet now. Or I will stop you."

"Well…" The Skrasvi hissed quietly. "We can't have that."

Something pressed against the Doctor's back, pain like fire roared across his system, his vision flashed red-blue-green and he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

The Doctor blinked awake and groaned. Every muscle ached, his brain felt like it was full of glass and his mouth tasted like ash. Bright light shone into his eyes and pierced through to his brain. He clenched his eyes shut until the pain stopped. He stayed like that for a few more minutes, then opened them again. The light was bearable now, enough for him to have a look at his current situation. The first thing he noticed was that he was strapped to some sort of table, lying on his back. Thankfully he still had his clothes on. The second thing he noticed was that he was in a large square room, various types of medical equipment scattered around. The third thing he noticed was the Skrasvi watching him.

"You are a curious creature," it said. "You recovered from the stun rod faster than any human would. The scans we took of you show a binary vascular system. The humans on this planet do not have the technology to implement this sort of biological system successfully. What are you?"

"Time Lord," the Doctor grunted.

"They are myth. You are lying."

"I'm really not. At this point I doubt I could think up a clever enough lie." The Doctor laid his head back and groaned a bit. His head still hurt. The Skrasvi growled.

"What are you doing here?"

"If you mean the planet I was just visiting. If you mean the warehouse I was trying to find where all the warp radiation was coming from. What's the point of that? Your ship didn't look damaged from what I saw."

"We are the scouts," the Skrasvi said. "We fly ahead of the fleet, searching for a suitable planet to conquer. We leave the radiation trail so that they may follow us here, and take this planet."

The Doctor groaned with realisation. "It's a signal. And how far away is the fleet?"

The Skrasvi seemed to grin. "They will be here in a matter of days, Time Lord. And you will be the first slave to be broken. It was foolish of you to come here alone."

"I have to agree with you on that point."

The Skrasvi snapped around. Leaning against the wall, looking almost bored, was the angel.

"Hello Doctor," he said. "How are you?"

"Oh, I've been better. I like the new clothes."

"Thanks. Apparently these boots are so in right now. I've not a clue what that means but I think it's something good."

"Silence!" the Skrasvi roared. "Who are you?"

The angel thought for a moment. "Well… I suppose you can call me Alexander Silver." He looked around the Skrasvi at the Doctor. "What do you think of that name?"

"Not bad. Maybe a bit long, do you mind if I just call you Alex?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Silence!" The Skrasvi roared again. "How did you get on this ship?"

"I walked up the ramp." The angel – Alexander pushed himself away from the wall, his wings flaring. "What do you know of the Weeping Angels?"

The Skrasvi tilted its head "They are myth."

"You said the same thing about the man on the table, yet I assure you, he is a Time Lord."

The Skrasvi paused. "You are not stone."

Alexander shrugged. "Stuff happens. I don't turn to stone when looked at anymore. Which means I'm vulnerable."

The Skrasvi was still for a second or two. Then it screeched and reached for its gun. The lights flickered and it disappeared.

Alexander lowered his hand from where he'd touched the Skrasvi. "It also means I can't be stopped," he said. Then he turned to the Doctor and sighed. "Did you even try to stay out of trouble?"

"Yes. Unsuccessfully. Would you mind opening the cuffs?" Alexander sighed again and pressed a button on the side of the table. The cuffs around the Doctor's wrists and ankles sprang open.

"How much did you hear?" he asked as he sat up and rubbed at his wrists.

"Everything from 'you are myth you are lying'. What do we do now?"

"Get rid of the rest of the crew on the ship and find some way to stop the fleet from coming here. Thankfully we have a couple of days. Longer than I usually have."

"The first one's already taken care of. They got in the way," he added in response to the Doctor's questioning look. "We could always take the TARDIS and leave."

"And leave billions of innocent people to become slaves?" The Doctor asked angrily.

"I'm just saying it's an idea." Alexander sighed. "Blow up the ship?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Too big of an explosion. It would take out half the city. Plus that won't get rid of the trail. Could you send it somewhere?"

Alexander shook his head. "No, I can only send physical objects and nothing that big anyway."

The Doctor ran his hands through his hair. "Come on come on there must be something we can do."

"Hang on a moment," Alexander said, a look of intense concentration on his face. "Stop talking I need to think about this." For a moment he was silent. Then he smiled. "I think that could work. I may have an idea. Come on, we need to get to the cockpit."

* * *

Marshrak, the High Commander of the Second Skrasvi Fleet, grinned at the thought of the new planet they would be subjugating. He settled himself deeper into his throne on the bridge of his flagship and drifted amongst thoughts of breaking new slaves to his will while the planet was drained of all its precious materials. His thoughts were interrupted by one of the communication crew.

"Sir we're receiving a message from the scout ship on general broadcast."

Marshrak cocked his head. That was worrying. A call on general broadcast went to all ships. That only happened when the planet was found to be more effort than it was worth and aborted.

"Open the channel," he hissed. The view screen before him flickered and an image popped up. Surprisingly it did not show any of the scout crew, but rather what appeared to be a human.

"Hello," it said with a smile. "My name's Alexander Silver. I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind possibly not conquering the planet Centuria. It's just, there's an awful lot of people living here and it would be a real shame if they all got turned into slaves, don't you think? I'm sure you'll make the right choice." The human smiled as it continued to ramble. Marshrak cocked his head and growled.

"Impertinent human scum. Switch it off and continue to Centuria."

* * *

The Doctor raised an eyebrow as Alex lounged in the captain's chair of the scout ship. "What was the point of that? You don't seriously believe that that'll change their minds do you?"

"Oh of course not," Alex said cheerfully. "I never planned to change their minds. See there's one other little thing about Weeping Angels you should know. We're creatures of concept as much as physical form. We can project our consciousness into an image of ourselves. Essentially anything that holds our image becomes an angel."

The Doctor's eyes widened in realisation. "And you just sent that to every ship in the fleet," he said. Alex grinned.

* * *

"Impertinent human scum. Switch it off and continue to Centuria."

The image on the screen flickered for a second, then popped back to life. "Of course," the human on screen said, "I realise there's no way you would ever stop just because I asked you to. So I included a little something extra in this message." The smile widened, becoming predatory, and the human leaned forward and out of the screen, dropping to the deck. It rose to its feet, somehow still two-dimensional, and flared its wings.

"Surprise," it said.

* * *

"Approximately two hundred copies of me are now flattening the Skrasvi fleet. A whole planet saved. With one phone call." Alex smirked. "Top that."

* * *

"So what will happen to the images of you?" The Doctor asked as they approached the TARDIS.

"I can cut off the connection any time I like. They'll just disappear."

"That could be useful," the Doctor said as he opened the door. Alex hesitated for a moment.

"Thank you," he said quickly. The Doctor gave him a questioning look.

"What for?"

"All this. Bringing me here. I didn't even realise I needed it. So thank you."

The Doctor smiled. "You're welcome." He paused for a moment. "Want to keep going?"

"Definitely."

The Doctor grinned wider and walked into the TARDIS, Alexander following him through. The door closed and the screeching, groaning sound started as the TARDIS slowly faded into nothingness, leaving nothing but a strong breeze.

* * *

**Next time...**

**"Are you ever not in trouble here?"**

**"Can someone explain why I'm under arrest?"**

**"Hi, I'm Captain Jack Harkness"**

* * *

**Thanks to everyone who's favourited and followed my daft ramblings. It makes me feel good to know people are enjoying my writing.**


	6. Chapter 6: Cardiff

**Sorry for the wait. I've been busy lately, but I should be getting chapters out a bit more regularly now. Enjoy.**

* * *

The inside of the TARDIS was quiet and still. The gentle hum of the time vortex permeated every part of the ship. Every now and again a small light would blink on the console as the automated procedures kept the Eye of Harmony at optimum efficiency. Everything was peaceful and calm. Then the doors burst open and Alex sprinted inside, closely followed by the Doctor. If the TARDIS had a voice box it would have sighed, and if it had eyes it would have rolled them. Alex slammed the doors closed as the Doctor ran up to the console. They were both grinning, clearly having enjoyed themselves.

"Emperor Nero definitely doesn't like you," Alex said. He was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, with a roman helmet sitting on his head as an afterthought.

"I think he liked you less," the Doctor said.

"Hey, all I said was that his gods most likely didn't exist. Is that so hard to believe?"

The Doctor laughed. "For him, yes. I think they were actually about to start worshiping you."

"Really?" Alex looked interested.

"Don't even think about it."

Alex shrugged. "I wouldn't want to be a god anyway. Sounds way too boring."

The Doctor looked up from the console, noticed the helmet on Alex's head and frowned. "Where'd the helmet come from?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh" Alex took off the helmet and grinned. "It's Nero's. I… borrowed it."

There was a loud thump-thump-thump and the doors rattled as someone banged on them. "Doctor!" someone outside shouted. "There is no escape! I know you're in there!"

Alex raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. "No escape?"

The Doctor grinned and pulled a lever. The TARDIS groaned, moaned and shook as it took off. The shouting outside faded into silence. The Doctor pulled another lever and the shaking eased, the TARDIS simply floating listlessly in the time vortex. Alex tossed the helmet away and sighed contentedly.

"That was relaxing," he said, taking a seat. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Relaxing? We just got chased through the streets of Rome."

Alex shrugged. "Well it started off relaxing. What's that?" A high pitched beeping had started up, coming from the console. The Doctor frowned and brought the screen around, clicking a few buttons.

"Huh," he said. "Tank's getting low. Figuratively speaking, the TARDIS doesn't actually have a fuel tank. But she is getting low on fuel."

"And that means…?"

The Doctor grinned and flicked a switch. "We've got to make a pit stop."

"I can't imagine you can refuel at any old place. How do you fill up a time machine anyway?"

"You ever heard of Cardiff?" That Doctor asked.

* * *

"So let me get this straight. There's a city on Earth called Cardiff."

"Yep."

"And it's got a rift in time and space running through it."

"Yep."

"And you fill up the TARDIS by landing right on top of it and waiting?"

"Yep."

"Isn't landing a time machine on a rift in time and space dangerous?"

"Maybe a bit. But don't worry, I've done this before and nothing bad has happened. Well, nothing bad that I couldn't fix."

"That's comforting. What do we do while we wait?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Get some food, have a look around the city. Try to stay inconspicuous."

"That could be an issue," Alex said, wiggling his wings. "I can't exactly make these disappear."

The Doctor frowned. "That's a good point. Hmm… Oh hang on a tick." Alex raised an eyebrow as the Doctor ran off. A few minutes later he was back carrying a small box. "I picked this up a little while ago," he explained as he opened the box's lid. "This," he pulled out a small bracelet, "is a camouflage filter. It'll stop people from seeing your wings."

"What, does it make them invisible?"

"Not invisible so much, but unnoticed. A camouflage filter is sort of like an amped up perception filter. It alters the perception of anyone who looks at you, but instead of not noticing you they'll see you as what they think of as completely normal."

"That's actually pretty clever," Alex said as he took the perception filter. It was a thin ring of gold coloured metal. It was, on the whole, rather unremarkable. Alex slipped it over his hand and it hung loosely on his arm. A couple of shakes, however, proved that it wouldn't slip off again. A slight tingle ran over him.

"What do you think?" he asked the Doctor, who shook his head.

"It won't work on me because you already look normal to me. Plus I'm a bit harder to fool than a human."

Alex looked over his shoulder at the door. There was a thump as the TARDIS landed. "Well," he said. "One way to test it." He looked back at the Doctor. "If you hear screaming it probably hasn't worked."

The Doctor laughed as Alex walked out the doors. The angel shivered as a chill breeze washed over him. The cold didn't actually bother him, but approximating a human response would help him to blend in. He sighed inwardly. _Humans and their fragile little bodies, _he thought. _How do they get around in those things?_

The TARDIS had landed in the middle of a large square, paved in stone. One end ran out to a pier and at the other was a tall metal tower with water running down the sides. Several humans were wandering across the square.

"Excuse me," Alex called to one of them as he jogged over. The woman turned around, her pink coat pulled tight about her. "Hi, sorry to bother you," Alex said with a friendly smile, "but do you have the time?"

"Oh, yes it's uh…" the woman looked at her watch. "Nearly ten. Say, aren't you cold dressed like that?"

Alex laughed a bit and hugged himself, making it look like he was cold. "A bit. I was in a rush this morning and left my jacket at home."

The woman laughed a little. "Well it happens to all of us. Have a nice day."

"You too," Alex said as she walked away. He turned and walked back to the TARDIS. The Doctor was leaning on it with a smile.

"It works," Alex said.

"I noticed. That was a nice bit of fast talking there."

Alex shrugged. "Telling a lie is easy when you know what they'll believe."

"You know most species consider reading someone's mind without permission rude."

"Are humans one of them?"

"…No but that's not the point."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. I'll try to keep the mind walking to a minimum. No promises though. Now, where do you want to go?"

"Well," The Doctor said, giving the area a sweeping look. "There is a nice little restaurant just down the road. I went there once with a Slitheen. Lovely chips."

"What's a Slitheen?"

* * *

"Mm. These are nice," Alex said as he tried the chips. The restaurant was fairly packed today. It looked like there was some kind of party going on across the other side of the room. Several tables had been pushed together and nearly a dozen people were sitting around, laughing, chatting and eating.

"I wonder what their celebrating," Alex said.

"Dunno," said the Doctor. "Probably a birthday or something."

At that moment several people came out of the kitchen, carrying a large cake topped with flickering candles. The people around the table cheered, one woman blushing furiously, and started to sing 'Happy Birthday'. Alex watched on as they finished the song and cheered again, several other people in the restaurant joining in. He smiled a little sadly.

"Is this what life is like for most beings?" he asked. The Doctor looked at him questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

Alex sighed. "I spent most of my life either as a statue or hiding from the sight of any other creature. Experiences like those… most of those emotions… they're completely foreign to me. I've never really known about enjoying company or… or throwing a party. I guess… I guess I'm just wondering what I've been missing out on." He paused, then gave the Doctor a smile. "Do you mind if I take a walk by myself for a bit?"

"Course," The Doctor said. "If I'm not here when you get back I'll be in the TARDIS."

"Got it," Alex said, getting up from his chair. "I'll see you later."

"See you."

Alex wasn't really sure where he wanted to go. He wasn't really sure why he wanted to leave either. Everything had suddenly got so complex. There was suddenly so much he didn't understand, hadn't experienced. He'd gone from being disconnected from the lives of other beings, to being lost in the midst of them. It was… jarring, to say the least.

Alex paused and frowned. For a second there… He took a deep sniff of the air. There it was. Something… not human. Definitely not from Earth. The smell of human was masking most of it, but underlying it was the scent of something alien. _I'm turning into a sniffer-dog,_ Alex thought as he followed the scent. He followed it through the streets, sometimes losing it for a few moments before a fresh breeze would blow it towards him. Eventually he found himself in the back alleys. The alien scent was very strong now, but there was something else too. Some sort of metallic tang he didn't recognise. He turned a corner and stopped, eye wide.

"Oh," was all he said.

The alley before him was overturned. Trashcans lay on their sides, rubbish was strewn everywhere and covering it all was what once may have been a human. Blood had been splattered high up on the walls, and bone and viscera were scattered around carelessly. Whoever this person had been, something had torn them apart in the most violent manner possible. Alex slowly walked forward, careful not to step in any guts. The violence may not bother him, but that didn't mean he had to be impolite. Plus he didn't want blood all over his shoes.

"Hold it right there," came a voice from behind him. Alex whipped around, affecting a look of terror. The man before him was fairly tall, his build covered by the long, navy blue coat he wore. His hair was brown and short, his face handsome, with a strong jaw and sharp cheekbones. Oh, and he was pointing a gun at Alex.

"Please don't shoot me," Alex cried, acting scared out of his wits. "I – I don't know what happened. I just found it like this. This isn't real is it?"

The gun didn't waver and the man said, "Cut the act. Whatever cloaking tech you've got on isn't gonna work on me. Now what did you do to this person."

Realising he'd been caught, Alex dropped the act. "I didn't do anything," he said in an icy voice. "I really did just find it like this. And I would thank you not to attempt to threaten me," his wings flared behind him, "unless you want to get yourself killed."

The man tensed, cocking the hammer of his gun. Alex drew up his energy, preparing to kill.

Then, "Stop, stop! Don't shoot!" The man whipped around and Alex's eyes widened as the Doctor rushed around the corner.

"Doctor?" Alex and the man said. The man turned back to Alex. "You know him?" they chorused again. "He knows you?" They asked the Doctor. "How do you know him?" they asked each other.

"I travel with him," Alex said, crossing his arms. The man's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh," he said, lowering the gun slightly. He looked at the Doctor. "He telling the truth?" The Doctor nodded. "Huh. Alright then," he said as he holstered the gun. "In that case, sorry I was about to shoot you." Alex shrugged.

"You wouldn't have been able to hit me anyway," he said.

The man arched an eyebrow. "Well how about we start over." He offered his hand. Alex thought for a moment, then smiled and stepped forward.

"Sure. Hi, I'm Alexander Silver," he said, shaking the man's hand.

"Hi," The man said. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

"Oh here we go," The Doctor muttered to himself.

* * *

**For Jack that's flirting.**

**Favourite, follow and review. And thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7: A Simple Solution

**I LIIIIIIIIVE!**

**Yes the hiatus is over and I am officially back to writing this story! Huzzah!**

**I just want to thank everyone who's been patient with this story. And without any further faffing about, read on!**

* * *

"What happened around here?" the Doctor asked, apparently noticing the carnage for the first time.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," said Jack. "This is the third killing like this in a week. I don't know what's doing it or how. By the time I get to the scene whoever or whatever it is has vanished."

"Well whatever it was it's not from Earth," said Alex. "It smells wrong. Still vaguely human, but different somehow."

"Different how?" the Doctor asked.

Alex frowned. "I don't know. I can't put my finger on it."

"Chemical composition of the body might have changed," the Doctor muttered. Then he turned to Jack. "How did you know that this was happening? This all looks fresh, it can't be more than a few minutes old."

"Cameras," said Jack. "There are cameras all over Cardiff. Whenever one of these murder happens all the cameras that could see what's going on shut off. It lasts about half a minute, then they come back on and there's blood everywhere."

"So it's fast and it knows when it's being watched," the Doctor muttered. "I need to see what the cameras saw, are there recordings?"

Jack nodded. "Back at headquarters, this way."

Alex gave the murder scene one final look before following Jack and the Doctor out of the alley.

* * *

"I'm the only one here at the moment," Jack said, taking off his coat. "Gwen and Ianto are out of the country. Anyway, welcome to the Hub."

"Nice," Alex said, admiring the room.

"How long has it been?" the Doctor asked. "Since the Dalek invasion I mean?"

"Not long. Only a month or so. Things on Earth are only just starting to get back to normal. It had actually been pretty quiet around here before the murders." Jack led them over to a computer with several screens and typed something. Video feeds came up on the screens, each one showing a different part of the city. "Now the first one," Jack said, typing again. One of the screens came up with a recording, showing an old man walking down a narrow lane. Then the image broke up into static. "This was up the north end of Cardiff," Jack said. A few seconds later the image cleared up. The old man was gone and everything was splattered red. "The second one's much the same, except that it was closer to the city centre." This video showed a young woman leaning against a wall, checking her phone. Once again the image broke up and when it returned the woman had been replaced with a lot of scattered blood and viscera.

"Impressive," said Alex. "Very impressive." He noticed the looks Jack and the Doctor were giving him. "What?"

"You're admiring whoever's doing this?" Jack asked.

"Admiring the skill of the execution, yes," said Alex. "That doesn't mean I'm about to hop over to their side and start making people explode."

"Well that's… good. I suppose," said the Doctor. He blinked a couple of times then looked back at the screens. "So each time it happens the murderer waits for a couple of days before the next killing?"

"That's been the pattern so far," said Jack.

"Have you been able to find any links between the first two victims?"

"Other than they both live in Cardiff, no."

"So basically our only plan is to wait around for a couple of days until the next murder?" asked Alex. The Doctor grimaced.

"The slow path," he muttered. "I hate the slow path."

* * *

The Doctor was pacing. Again. Jack was sitting in front of the monitors, sipping a coffee. Alex was sitting in a chair, barely moving with his eyes on the screens. The room had been silent for hours.

"So," Jack said, with the air of one grasping at straws to make a conversation. "Where are you from, Alex?" Alex took his eyes off the screens, raising his eyebrows in a question. "What planet are you from?" Jack elaborated.

The corners of Alex's mouth twitched in a small smile. "You wouldn't know it. It's quite… out of the way."

The Doctor stopped pacing, looking interested. "I didn't even think Angels had a home planet. What's it called?"

"I don't think there's an adequate translation in English. But you'd possibly call it Elsewhere. Or maybe The Place That Is Not. It's a difficult idea to describe. It lies just under the skin of the universe, not a quite separate plane, but also disconnected from this one. It's both there and not there at the same time, a place where the line between dreams and reality is blurred to the point of near non-existence. The past and the future can exist in the same moment, while the present may not exist at all. At the same time all possible futures, pasts and presents play out."

"This is giving me a headache just thinking about it," said Jack. Alex grinned at that.

"Most creatures have trouble fully comprehending it. And if any creature, other than a Weeping Angel, ever entered it, their brain would probably combust from the sheer amount of infiniteness there. Also it's the only place where Weeping Angels don't turn to stone when we're looked at."

"Really?" asked the Doctor. "How does that work?"

"You can't not exist in a place where everything always exists," said Alex. Then he shrugged. "That's the best way to explain it really. Again, there aren't words in English designed for these sorts of concepts."

"Hang on a second," Jack said. "What was that about turning to stone?"

"You've never heard of the Weeping Angels?" Alex asked. Jack shook his head. "Huh. Well to make a long story short, as the saying goes, Weeping Angels are creatures of both thought and form that are capable of sending a creature back in time and feeding on the potential of the days they would have lived. I believe the Doctor calls us 'creatures of the abstract'. One of our species' little quirks is that we turn to stone whenever another living thing looks at us."

"So… why aren't you turning to stone now?"

"Actually that was how I met the Doctor. There was this man named Jarva, a scientist with an excess of intelligence and a lack of common sense…"

* * *

Alex was standing in front of the screens, completely still except for his wings, which slowly waved to and fro, creating tiny ripples in the rift energy that only he could feel. The Doctor had retreated to the TARDIS, intent on finding something to stave off the boredom.

"How are things around the city?" Jack asked, walking up behind him.

"The same as ever. Humans wandering around doing their human things. How this species ever manages to raise a galaxy wide empire is beyond me. Oh, no offense Jack."

"None taken. Sometimes I wonder the same thing."

For a while the two stood there, just watching the screens for any sign of trouble. Then Alex asked, "Why are humans always doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"That thing with their mouths. What was it called? Kissing, that was it."

Jack shrugged. "It's one of the ways we show another person that we like them. Or sometimes it's just a completely spur of the moment thing. Mostly the latter in my case."

Alex watched as another couple on one of the screens shared a lip-lock. "I wonder what it's like," he murmured to himself.

"Why not find out?"

Alex turned to raise an eyebrow at Jack. "Are you flirting with me?" Jack's only answer was a cheeky grin. Alex shook his head and turned back to the screens. "Anyway, kissing someone would be a very bad idea. You remember how I told you that I send someone back in time with a touch?"

"Yes."

"Well a kiss is different. Instead of sending them I drain them of their life energy, reducing them to dust. Unlike sending I can't control it, it happens whether I want it to or not."

"… Okay," said Jack. "I can see why you don't want to test it out." He paused for a moment. "You know, I can't actually die."

Alex looked at him again. "What?"

"I can't die. An old friend of the Doctor's brought me back to life once, permanently. I literally cannot be killed."

"Huh," Alex said with a thoughtful look as he turned back to the screens. Then there was a blur of movement and something grabbed the front of Jack's shirt and a pair of lips were pressed up against his. For a moment Jack froze, before responding with gusto, despite the fact that he could feel the energy in his body draining away and replacing itself at an alarming rate. Alex pushed harder against him, his eyes shut tight. A few seconds later it was over, Alex quickly pulling away, his cheeks bright red. Jack stumbled a little, dizzy from dying so many times in a row.

"Wow," he said.

"Yeah, that was… wow," Alex muttered, staring fixedly at the monitors.

Jack let out slow breath and cleared his throat. "Well I'm gonna go… do…" he pointed meaninglessly over his shoulder.

"Yeah," said Alex. "I'll just stay here and… keep an eye on things."

Jack made to head off, then paused. A few moments passed. "Wanna go again?" he asked.

He was nearly bowled over as Alex leapt on him.

* * *

It had been three days since the Doctor and Alex arrived in Cardiff. Everyone was tense and expectant, knowing that the next attack would be coming very soon. The Doctor kept glancing at the screens from where he was sitting, working on some homemade doohickie. Jack was wandering around, taking inventory on a tablet. Alex was once again sitting in his chair. Everyone was so busy waiting for something to happen, it took a few seconds for any of them to notice the sound of static.

"Monitor!" they shouted in unison. Alex and the Doctor leapt from their chairs and Jack dropped the tablet on a nearby table.

"There," the doctor said, pointing to a square of static on the screen. "Where is that, how far away?"

"Hang on a second," said Jack, tapping away at the keyboard. A map of Cardiff came up and a second later a red dot popped up. "It's not far, less than a mile. We need to leave now." Jack turned and noticed something. "Where'd Alex go?"

"He's probably on his way there," said the Doctor, taking over the keyboard. "Might have already arrived by now. We'd should see if we can get the camera back up from here. If we can manage that we might get to see for ourselves who's behind this."

* * *

Alex's body burned with energy as the world rushed past in a blur of colour and sound. He'd waited just long enough for to see the map before allowing energy to flood his body, rendering him little more than a gust of wind and a slight blur to the humans he passed. He reached the small back street in barely more than a second and drew to a stop, throwing off his speed and momentum in a way that violated several laws of physics. Or at the very least, gave them a rather inappropriate fondle.

As the rest of the universe came back into focus Alex was surprised by what he saw. A middle aged man was kneeling in the middle of the street with a look of fear and shock, his head surrounded by a bubble of green mist. No one else was around. Even as Alex watched the bubble shrank, the mist rushing into the man's nose and mouth. The last of it disappeared and for a second nothing happened. Then the man made a strangled gurgling sound and forcefully exploded. Blood splattered everything and various bits and pieces went flying. A fair amount of it splattered over Alex. A few seconds passed.

"Ew," said Alex. Then the sound of sirens reached him. He turned to go just as a large truck pulled up at the entrance to the street. Humans in body armour poured out, bearing rifles. Alex looked over his shoulder as another truck stopped at the other end of the street. The soldiers levelled their rifles at him as another man raised a megaphone.

"This is the Unified Intelligence Taskforce," he shouted. "You are under arrest. Surrender or we will open fire."

Alex arched an eyebrow.

* * *

"The image is clearing up," the Doctor said, his sonic screwdriver whistling as he pointed it at the screen. Then his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What are UNIT doing here?"

"Same thing I'm doing," said Jack, "looking into the murders. They've been less subtle about it than me though."

"That's not exactly surprising," the Doctor muttered. "Are they trying to arrest Alex?"

"Looks like it."

* * *

Alex resisted rolling his eyes as one of the soldiers came forward with a pair of handcuffs. He looked nervous. Alex stuck his hands out and the shackles were snapped around his wrists.

"Can someone explain why I'm under arrest?" he asked loudly.

"Murder," the man with the megaphone, who seemed to be in charge, called back. "There's no point denying it, we've caught you right at the scene of the crime. Don't try flying away either, or we will open fire."

_They can see through the disguise_, Alex thought, a little impressed. _They must have experience with other aliens._

"Hey look over there!" Alex shouted, pointing at the end of the alley. Some turned around, most didn't. But for the briefest of moments, everyone glanced away from the Angel. There was a rush of air, and when everyone looked back he was gone and a pair of broken handcuffs were lying on the ground.

* * *

"Friends of yours Doctor?" Alex asked from behind the Doctor and Jack. The two jumped slightly in surprise but recovered quickly.

"Sort of," the Doctor said. "I used to work for them. I think I still do actually." Alex raised an eyebrow and the Doctor shrugged. "They're mostly alright, they just get… enthusiastic. Do you want to go have a wash, you've got a bit of…" The Doctor trailed off, making vague gestures at his face.

"I probably should. First though, I saw what killed that man."

"Really?" Jack asked, looking hopeful. Alex nodded.

"I arrived in time to see it all happen. Doctor, do you know anything about green mists that make humans explode?"

* * *

**One shower and a change of clothes later…**

"From what Alex told me about what he saw," The Doctor said to Jack and Alex, "and from some of my own research, I'm pretty certain I know what's causing these deaths.

"They're called gavel spores, from the planet Coloscosus. Most of the time the spores are fairly harmless. They sort of act like worms do on earth, aiding decomposition and helping to get nutrients back into the soil. Interesting thing about them, though, is that when they gather in groups they form a hive-mind intelligence. The more spores there are in a group the more intelligent the group is. Once a year, during the breeding season, lots of these groups form. In order to reproduce the spores need to incubate inside another living creature. For the natives of the planet that's completely fine, the worst that happens is they get a headache and some nausea for a few days."

"But if they try to reproduce in a human…" Jack said.

"The human body can't handle the chemical changes brought on by the spores. Massive amounts of gases are produced all over the body in seconds. All that pressure has nowhere to go and…"

"Pop," Alex finished. "So they aren't actually murders? They're just spores on the wrong planet?" The Doctor nodded.

"When the victims explode the spores are probably scattered about," he said. "That's why there's been a couple of days between each of the incidents."

"They probably came through the rift," said Jack. "We get all sorts of interplanetary flotsam round here."

"So how do we get them off Earth?" Alex asked.

"That should be easy," the Doctor said. "The spores are attracted to certain electromagnetic signals. We gather all the spores in one location, trap them, then take them back to Coloscosus."

"Sounds easy enough," said Jack. "You get started on that, I'll go tell UNIT what we've got. Maybe that'll get them to leave us alone."

* * *

"I'll be perfectly honest," Alex said, peering at the green mist swirling in the glass he was carrying as they walked to the TARDIS. "I wasn't expecting thing to go this smoothly."

"Things don't go wrong every time," the Doctor replied. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Doctor you have the worst luck of anyone in the universe. Things always go wrong around you."

"That's not true."

"Actually it kinda is," said Jack. The Doctor huffed.

"Anyway," he said, pulling the TARDIS key from his pocket as they approached the blue box. "It was good seeing you again Jack."

Jack grinned and saluted. "Stay safe Doctor."

"Oh, hang on just a moment," said Alex. "Hold this." He passed the jar to the Doctor, who was looking rather confused. Then he turned around and engaged Jack in a passionate, fiery kiss. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. After ten seconds of non-stop lip-lock he cleared his throat loudly. With apparent effort, Alex pulled himself off Jack, breathing heavily.

"Ok," he said, looking a bit dazed. "Ready to go." Then he wandered past the Doctor into the TARDIS. The Doctor turned to Jack.

"You," he said, "are a terrible influence." Jack's grin widened and he laughed. The Doctor smiled too and stepped back inside the TARDIS. The door closed and Jack turned and walked away as the metallic groaning started and the blue box faded away.

* * *

**Next time…**

"**I am Alexander Silver"**

_**He will kill you**_

"**I am a Weeping Angel"**

_**He will abandon you**_

"**And I. Am. Afraid"**

"… **Please save me."**

* * *

**This chapter gave me a lot of trouble writing and I'm still not completely happy with the way it turned out. That may be mostly my fault though seeing as I wrote the damn thing as an excuse for Alex to snog Jack. I promise the next chapter will be more thought out. See you there!**


	8. Chapter 8: Unease

The sounds of running feet echoed down the empty corridors. Breaths came sharp and scared, punctuated every now and then with a small sob. Sides hurt and legs ached, but still the woman ran. She ran to an intersection and went left, still running. She couldn't stop. She had to keep going, but it felt like her legs were going to give out. She slowed to a stop, listening carefully. Her legs trembled. The only sounds were her heavy breathing.

Goosebumps rippled over her skin.

The lights started to flicker and dim. Inky darkness covered everything.

She could see it out of the corner of her eye. She turned, trying to see through the shadows. Skittering behind her and she spun, seeing nothing. Whispers all around, horrible things that danced in the dark. She turned and turned, true terror welling up inside. Deep, dark laughter from behind her and she turned and screamed.

Then there was silence.

* * *

Alex was reading a book in the console room when something went bing. He looked up from the book with a frown.

Bing.

"Doctor," Alex shouted, going back to his book. "The TARDIS is doing something."

A few seconds later the Doctor jogged into the room, a toothbrush in his hand. "What was that sorry?"

"The TARDIS is-."

Bing.

"-Doing that."

"Huh." The Doctor pulled the scanner screen around and inspected the readouts. "We're picking up a distress signal."

"Are we."

"From a deep space mining station."

"Fascinating."

The Doctor looked over at Alex. Alex raised his eyes from his book and looked at the Doctor.

Bing.

Alex sighed and closed the book. "Just getting to the good part," he muttered. "Alright. Let's go satisfy your rampant curiosity and see if we can help them."

* * *

With a thump the TARDIS landed.

"Okay," said Alex. "So where and when are we?"

"The year three million and seven, by Earth time. We're somewhere right in the middle of Keltozan Asteroid Belt. I think. The scanner looks like it's playing up again."

"I keep telling you to fix it," Alex said as the Doctor whacked the sides of the screen.

"And I will," the Doctor replied. "Eventually."

Alex rolled his eyes and walked over to the doors. "Is it safe to go outside?"

"Atmosphere's breathable," the Doctor called and Alex opened the doors.

Outside was a corridor. A completely ordinary corridor. It was square, metal, had lights of the ceiling and was very much ordinary and very, very boring.

"Didn't you say there was a distress signal coming from this place?" Alex called over his shoulder.

"There is," said the Doctor, walking up behind him.

"Well this doesn't seem very… distressed to me."

"No it doesn't," The Doctor agreed. "So why is there a distress signal?" With that the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and walked away down the corridor. Alex sighed and followed, closing the TARDIS doors behind him.

For a few minutes they walked in silence, following the twisting maze of corridors. "Are you thinking that it's just a bit too quiet?" Alex asked.

"Yes I am."

"Oh good I was wondering whether it was just me."

"This is a big mining station. We should at least be able to hear the engines."

"There aren't any alarms either. This ship was giving off a distress signal. So where are the alarms?"

"Good point Alex. Let's see if we can find one of the crew members."

They walked for a few minutes more, then Alex grabbed the Doctor's arm, pulling him to a stop. "Doctor wait. Something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked. His sense were much better than a human's, but Alex's were even better than his.

"Can't you feel it?" The Doctor shook his head. Alex frowned, struggling for the right words. "It's like… something that's not quite there. Something at the back of my mind, or in the corner of my eye."

Then a man burst around the corner of the corridor, waving a rifle. He was short but broad, with dark skin and short hair. Sweat dripped down his face and his eyes were wild. He saw them and screamed, the rifle coming towards them. There was a blur and the Doctor was pulled to the ground, bullets whizzing over his head. Another blur and the gun was yanked from the man's grip and Alex hit him across the face with it. The blow sent the man stumbling into the wall with a hand to his face and a look of shock. The Doctor picked himself up as Alex neatly disassembled the gun.

"Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome," the angel replied, tossing the pieces of gun away.

"You're real," the man whispered, looking like he didn't believe it. "You're really real."

"Yes we are," The Doctor said, kind but cautious. "Why did you try to shoot us?"

"Thought you were more of those things."

"What things? Aliens?"

The man shook his head. "Don't make me think about them. I – I can't do it. I won't make it." He looked at them with wide eyes. Alex could smell the fear coming off him. "You have to get off this station. You're not part of the crew, so however you got on, get off the same way. There's… _something_ here."

"What? What's here?' The Doctor said, his voice still low and kind.

The man breathed heavily and licked his lips. Then the lights above them flickered and dimmed for a moment. "Oh God it's found me," he whimpered. "Oh God no it's found me." The man stumbled away from the wall and started running.

"Wait, no, come back!" The Doctor shouted after him.

"Get off this ship!" The man screamed over his shoulder. "You have to get off this ship!"

Then he rounded the corner and was gone.

"That wasn't you with the lights was it?" The Doctor asked. Alex shook his head still looking at where the man had disappeared. A slight frown furrowed his brow. "What is it?"

"A couple of things. Firstly I managed to get a look inside his mind when he looked at us."

"And?"

"Nothing. His mind is completely scrambled. I could see some coherent stuff, mostly early memories, but when I tried to look at anything more recent everything got all… muddled and blurry. He couldn't even remember his own name. It was like something got inside his mind and tore him apart from the inside."

The Doctor stored that fact away for later use. "And what else?"

Alex hesitated. "I didn't hear him coming. Until he rounded that corner I couldn't hear him at all. And when he left I stopped hearing him as soon as he was out of sight."

The Doctor looked the corridor up and down. "Something very wrong's going on."

A scream echoed down the corridors. "That's the guy from before," said Alex.

"Come on!" the Doctor yelled, taking off. Alex followed, easily keeping pace. They rounded the corner as another scream rang out.

"This way!" said Alex, taking the lead as they hurtled around a corner. They took a right and then a left and skidded to a halt. Lying in the middle of the corridor was the man. He was laid out perfectly straight with his hands by his side, stiff as a board. As the Doctor and Alex approached they could see his eyes, wide with fear. Alex could already tell he was dead.

"I can't see any wounds," Alex said.

"I wouldn't expect any," The Doctor replied, frowning. "You said his mind felt scrambled. Scramble the brain too much…"

"No more person," Alex finished. He shivered, rubbing his arms. "We should leave. The longer we're on this ship the more I get the feeling that it's a bad place to be."

The Doctor looked at him with concern. "You're sure."

Alex nodded. "I don't often get scared, you know that. Not many things unnerve me. But this place is freaking me out. I keep feeling like we're being watched."

The Doctor hesitated, then nodded. "I'm getting that feeling too. There's something here that's twisting our perceptions, working on our base fears. We need to get back to the TARDIS."

"Can you remember the way back?"

The Doctor nodded. "This way."

The Doctor led the way through the corridors and intersections, mentally reversing the route they'd taken.

"Have you ever encountered anything like this Doctor?" Alex asked.

"Something similar, once."

"What was it?"

"The Devil."

"… Really?"

"Sort of. It was the truth behind the myth, according to it. But it died, fell into a black hole. This can't be because of it."

"We hope."

The Doctor internally agreed with Alex. He felt they were getting close to the TARDIS when the lights went out. The Doctor froze and heard Alex do the same behind him. The lights started flickering on and off, sometimes dim, sometimes bright.

"Doctor?"

"Stay close Alex."

"You can count on it." The Doctor felt, rather than saw, Alex move closer behind him. He set off again, slower this time so as not to lose his way in the dim light. He rounded a corner and let out a sigh of relief. The corridor ahead was dark, but he could see the shadowy outline of the TARDIS. He quickened his pace.

"Come on Alex," he said. "Let's get out of here." He took out his key and reached for the door.

The lights came on and the Doctor's hand passed through empty space. He jumped back in surprise, his hand recoiling.

"It's still doing it," he said. "Messing with what we can see." He paused, waiting for a reply. "Alex?" He turned to find an empty corridor. "Alex?" he shouted.

There was no reply.

"What's going on here?"

* * *

"Doctor slow down."

"Come on Alex," the Doctor called back. "We're almost there."

Alex sighed, peering through the gloom. He could hardly see and it bothered him. All he could make out of the Doctor was a shadowy figure walking quickly ahead of him. And the feeling that he was being watched, the tingle on the nape of his neck, just kept getting worse. Every few steps he would throw a look over his shoulder, but nothing moved in the shadows behind him.

Alex looked ahead as the Doctor rounded a corner. "I've found it," he called. "The TARDIS is just around here."

"Oh finally," Alex said with relief. He rounded the corner at a run and-

The lights were on. Alex blinked, confused. _When did the lights come on?_ He looked back down the corridor. The lights were on all the way along. He looked back and realised the corridor ahead was empty. No Doctor. No TARDIS.

"Hello?" he called. "Doctor? Are you there?"

There was no answer. Then, like a faint whisper in his ear, or someone speaking from so far away.

_You're mine now, little angel._

* * *

**Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun.**

**Sorry it's been a while. Been busy with university stuff.**


	9. Chapter 9: In Deepest Darkness

**Hello dear readers! I am so sorry about the long waiting time on this one. A combination of University and work has had me with precious little spare time. Still, it's here now and that's what's important!**

**Allons-y!**

* * *

Footsteps echoed loudly down the empty halls as the Doctor ran. The sound bounced around longer than it should have, making it sound as though a hundred people were running with him. He had now idea which direction he was heading in any more, every corridor looked exactly the same. He didn't let it stop him though. He had to make sure Alex was safe.

The Doctor turned a corner and skidded to halt, face to face with another dead end. He growled softly and turned back the way he came, only to find the corner he'd turned had vanished, replaced by a corridor that ran straight for as far as the eye could see. Whatever was on this station, it was still messing with his head.

"Hang in there Alex," he said quietly, and then he ran.

* * *

Alex fought. He fought to keep his breathing steady. He fought to keep his thoughts calm. He fought against the urge to lash out at everything around him, to rip them apart.

He fought against the crippling overwhelming fear. Because he knew it didn't come from him.

"What are you?" he asked the air around him. He could feel the presence surrounding him, smothering him, trying to drown him in a sea of terror.

A thousand out of synch voices laughed in his ear and in his head and all around him.

_I have no name, _the voices said-whispered-screamed. _I have no need of one. Not even your kind could name me, little angel. And now you're mine. It's been an age since I had the pleasure of entertaining such company._

The laughter again, unnerving and wholly wrong. Alex forced himself to breath. "You've met other angels before?"

_Yes_, the voices said with a sibilant hiss. _You're kind are such exquisite creatures, capable of such wonderful fear. I played with them for such a long time before they broke. And I'm sure you'll last just as long._

Alex breathed deep and let energy flood his body. "You'll have to catch me first." Then he ran.

Walls and corridors blurred past. Wind rushed around him. He ran faster than any creature could see. And still the voices laughed.

_You cannot escape,_ they said. _I am in your head now. There's nowhere to run._

But Alex still ran. Because that was all he could do.

* * *

"Alex?!" the Doctor shouted, hearing a thousand echoes come back to him. He'd lost track of how long he'd been searching for, something which should have been impossible. He could feel the presence in the back of his mind, gently twisting his perception. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pin it down, and he couldn't push it out. So he kept walking, hoping for a miracle.

The lights flickered and went out, plunging his world into darkness. The Doctor froze, by now cautious of the world changing around him.

"Hello?" he asked the darkness.

"You killed me," a voice answered. The Doctor felt his blood chill. He knew that voice.

The lights returned, and before the Doctor stood Donna Noble, her dark red hair framing her face as she stared blankly past him.

"Donna…" The Doctor whispered numbly.

"You killed me," Donna repeated, her expression not shifting. "You took me and showed me the universe. You made me a better person. And then you killed the person I became and sent what was left of me back to Earth."

"I had to," the Doctor said. "If I didn't your mind would have burned." Then he shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. "You're not here. You're at home, on Earth. You're not real."

The Doctor opened his eyes, and Donna was gone. He breathed a sigh of relief, one that caught in his throat when another familiar voice came from behind him.

"You never cared about me."

The Doctor whipped around. Standing there with her arms crossed, staring resolutely at the wall, was Martha Jones, with her hair tied up in a bun and a red-brown leather jacket.

"You never cared," Martha repeated. "You knew I loved you. And you lead me along, let me believe. I was never anything other than second best to you."

"Just stop," the Doctor hissed, anger giving him strength. "Whoever or whatever you are, just stop."

Martha looked at him, a twisted smile gracing her lips. "Or what?" she said in a voice that wasn't hers. It was deep and twisted, like malice incarnate. "What will you do? Could you hurt one of you precious companions?"

"You're not her. You're not my Martha, now stop it. Leave me alone."

The Not-Martha's grin widened. Every light but one went out, leaving the Doctor standing in a lone spot of light amidst a sea of shadows. Not-Martha stepped back into them, fading from sight. And for a moment that seemed like an eternity there was silence.

"Oh, my dear Doctor. If you wanted to be alone, you only needed to ask."

From the shadows before him stepped Alex. He was dressed in the robes he'd worn when they'd first met, and was looking down at the Doctor with a combination of supremacy and contempt.

"My dear, trusting, deluded Time Lord," he said with a cold smile. "What easy prey you've been. Letting me tag along on your little adventures, giving me all the time energy I could ever want." The Doctor turned on the spot, keeping Alex in sight as he walked in slow circles around the Time Lord, bare feet making no noise. "But you do realise, of course, that you're going to outlive your usefulness to me one day. And then I'll leave you all alone once again. They all leave you in the end, don't they? Maybe you'd prefer it if I killed you instead. Then again…" Alex stopped walking, looking at the Doctor out of the corner of his eye. "I might kill you anyway."

"Alex wouldn't do that," The Doctor growled through clenched teeth. Alex started circling again.

"Oh really? What makes you so sure?"

"I trust him."

"Oh but you don't. Not really. Isn't that why you're so keen to have me with you? What a dangerous thing that would be. An unstoppable, manically depressed psychopath. You couldn't risk me running off alone. You know full well what kind of damage I could do if I wanted. You had to keep the universe safe. From me."

"That's not true, that's not why I let him travel with me!"

"You know its true Doctor. After all…" Shadows gathered and Alex stepped into them, and when he stepped out the Doctor found himself looking at his own face. "It's what's in your head."

The Not-Doctor grinned. "Oh, so many secrets wrapped up in there. So many tragic memories. So many friends lost. And heartbreak. Very recently indeed."

"What are you?" the Doctor asked. "What are you and how are you doing this?!"

The Not-Doctor grinned wider and faded away like smoke in the wind. _Would you really like to find out? You've already met one Devil before. Are you so keen to meet another? If so… then step this way._

Lights came one down one corridor, a trail through the dark. And the Doctor, with no other choice, followed it.

* * *

Alex stumbled along the empty corridors as the thunderous laughter rumbled out of the walls around him. His teeth clenched and sweat ran down his face. It felt like needles were being driven into his brain, into the very fibre of his being and it hurt. The pain was inescapable, complete and utter agony as his mind was pulled to its utter limit. His fangs and claws were showing as he snarled at nothing, trying blindly to escape, in too much pain to think.

Then it all stopped.

Alex collapsed to his knees, sucking in great lungfuls of air. His muscles relaxed and his body started to shake. After a long while, he spoke.

"What do you want from me?" he asked the dark. "What do you want?"

_Oh don't worry about pleasing your host,_ the dark replied. _You're doing that already. Your every move, your every heartbeat, your every ragged breath fills me with your fear. __**Tell me how scared you are.**_

Alex knelt there with his head bowed. "I am Alexander Silver," he whispered. "I am a Weeping Angel. And… I am afraid."

_Hmm… Beautiful._

As the voice faded to nothing Alex didn't move, wrapping his arms around himself as his breathing slowed.

"He's going to leave you behind," said his own voice. Alex's head snapped up and his eyes widened. Standing before him was himself, garbed in the robes that he'd once worn.

"He's going to abandon you, because that's what the Doctor does in the end. He's shows people the universe, then leaves them behind and runs."

Alex hesitated, then shook his head. "He wouldn't. You're not real. I don't believe you."

Not-Alex sighed. "If you won't listen to me, then take it from a first-hand source."

"He left me on a beach," came a new voice. Not-Alex faded away, revealing the girl that was standing behind him. Her hair was blonde, cut short at the shoulders, and she wore a dark purple jacket with jeans. "He left me. Never tried to come back for me. And right to the very end he couldn't even tell me that he loved me."

"So if the Doctor," Not-Alex said as he faded up from nowhere, "abandoned the woman he loved, then what chance do you have?"

"Stop," Alex whispered.

"Then again he may not even abandon you. He may kill you instead."

"Stop," Alex said, louder this time.

"After all, he only sees you as a monster. And what does the Doctor do with monsters?" Not-Alex smiled and cold smile. "He kills them."

"I said STOP!" Alex roared, surging upwards in a flash of claws. They ripped through the image, which dissolved into nothing with an echoing laugh. The deafening silence returned as Alex stood there, panting for breathed. And with a buzz the lights flickered, and in an instant Alex was surrounded by reflections of himself.

"_He will kill you. He will abandon you. He will kill you. He will abandon you."_ Alex covered his ears again as the chanting continued, over and over, again and again and again. He sank back to his knees, whispering to himself.

"Please save me. Please save me Doctor, please."

"What good will the Doctor do?"

_He will kill you, abandon you._

"Look, there he goes now. Leaving you behind."

Alex looked up as he heard the sound of the TARDIS, and past the circle of reflections he could see the box as it faded in and out of reality, coming back less and less each time.

"DOCTOR!" Alex screamed, tears falling down his cheeks. "DOCTOR NO!"

And everything faded to despair and nothingness as Alex lay on the floor and sobbed, will utterly broken, in the dark.

_Come, little angel, _the dark said. _I think it's time we met, face to face._ Lights came on overhead, cutting a path through the dark. Slowly, Alex pushed himself to his feet and followed them.

* * *

After spending so long in those never ending corridors even the boring, utilitarian bridge of the station was a breath of fresh air to the Doctor. Through the screen in front of the captain's chair he could see thousands of asteroids as they floated lazily past. Every now and then one would bounce off the energy shields, ripples spreading from the point of impact.

"So where are you?" the Doctor asked, turning a slow circle.

_Patience, Doctor. We're still waiting on my last guest. Ah, here he is now._

The Doctor turned back to the entrance as Alex walked in, head hung low.

"Alex?" the Doctor said quietly. The Angel stopped and raised his head. The Doctor could see the tear tracks that ran down his cheeks and the dead, hopeless look in his eyes.

"No," he moaned, putting his hands to his head. "No please stop. Please…"

"Alex it's me," the Doctor said, trying to move closer, but Alex moved away, shaking his head.

"Not you're not. You left me – the Doctor left me."

"No I didn't, I'm right here." Alex just shook his head and backed away further.

_Do you like what I've done with him? He has so much potent fear in him. So many wonderful screams._

"Let him go." The Doctor said, turning back to the bridge. "Whatever you're doing to him, stop and let him go."

Deep laughter bounced around the room, eliciting a whimper from Alex. _You have no power to give me orders, Time Lord. This ship is my domain. Oh, but where are my manners? A host should greet his guests._

The captain's chair turned and the Doctor's eyes widened as he beheld the figure sitting there. It looked to be a young man, sitting upright. His mouth was stretched wide in a twisted grin, his eyes were wide and staring. His hands clenched the armrests so hard they'd turned white. He was unnaturally still, not even breathing.

_Alas, but this is not my original form,_ the voice continued, the body's moth not moving._ That was taken from me eons ago, by none other than the ancient High Time Lords._

"Then how did you end up here?"

_My kind can survive in a psychic form indefinitely, and can take over a new form at our pleasure. To prevent this the Time Lords sealed me in a casket of stone and cast me adrift through time. I was sent here, countless millennia ago, trapped inside that infernal casket. Until a band of curious humans found me amongst the asteroids, and broke open my prison. I took the body of this one for my own, and drained every single human on board of their every last fear._

The Doctor let a sour, grim smile show. "So that's what you are. A psychic parasite, feeding in the dark."

For a moment there was silence. _If you wish to see it that way, then fine. It doesn't matter to me. Sooner or later you too will break, just like your dear angel friend. Do you remember how he used to be, Doctor? So much fire and passion. So much insecurity. So much he was afraid of, underneath all that bravado and confidence. And look at him now. A cowering wreck, torn from all hope and sinking into madness. And all this by my doing._ More of that deep, twisted laughter. _Let's listen to him scream._

Alex's back arched as pain unlike anything that had come before roared through his body. Blades cut at his arms and legs. Spears drove through his chest. Shards of glass dived through his brain.

"Stop it!" He barely heard the voice, barely recognised it. Too much pain to think. Nightmares gathered at the edge of his vision as he fell to his knees, wings trying to curl around him protectively.

"Let him go!"

Too much pain.

"Stop!"

He was burning.

"Alex!"

Fire was racing down his limbs.

Fire was in his mind.

Energy filled him like a raging inferno.

He threw his head back and screamed.

And everything went gold.

* * *

The first thing Alex was aware of was the sound. That metallic, groaning that was so familiar. The answer felt light years away as he strayed at the edge of consciousness.

The TARDIS.

Slowly, his eyes blinked open. The warm golden light blinded him as his eyes adjusted. As sensation came back to him he became aware that he was lying down. Only a moment behind that was the realisation that absolutely everything hurt. He quickly stifled a groan and squeezed his eyes shut. A dull, persistent ache had found its way into every part of his body, even his brain. He opened his eyes again. The Doctor was standing in front of him, leaning against the TARDIS console with his arms crossed. The corner of his mouth twitched in a sad smile.

"Hey," he said.

"… Hey," Alex croaked.

"How are you feeling?"

Alex briefly considered saying that he was fine. "Horrible," was what came out instead.

"I'm not surprised, after what you've just been through."

Alex nodded, memories of the ordeal coming back to him, painful and unwanted. But he couldn't hear the voices in his head anymore. Thankfully. "How did we get away? The last thing I remember is… the bridge. And then nothing."

"Actually," the Doctor said, "we got away thanks to you."

Alex frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

The Doctor took a second to gather his thoughts and started talking.

* * *

"_Stop it!" the Doctor shouted as Alex contorted in pain, his face a mask of agony as his claws and fangs became apparent. "Let him go!" he roared at the body fixed to the chair. Maniac laughter rumbled around them as Alex sank to his knees. "Stop!" the Doctor shouted again, desperately trying to move, but his body wouldn't respond. He could only watch as Alex suffered._

_Then his body started to glow, streamers of gold light racing over his skin. The light became fire as it raced around him, a twisting shell of gold._

"_Alex!" the Doctor yelled. Alex threw his head back and screamed in abject agony and the shell erupted. The wave of gold fire rushed outwards, consuming everything._

* * *

"Really?" Alex asked, shocked. "I… did that? But… how?"

"I don't know," said the Doctor. "I've never seen anything like it. It was like some sort of defence mechanism, using all the time energy you had in you as a last resort weapon."

"I've never heard of anything like that happening to any other Angel before."

"No other Angel has ever spent this long travelling inside a TARDIS," the Doctor replied. "You're unique. In more ways than one."

Alex gave a small grin, which faded when he realised something else. "But what happened to that… thing?"

"Gone. The amount of energy you released took apart both the consciousness and the body it was occupying." Alex nodded, looking relieved. "And I'm sorry. For leading you into that." Alex shook his head.

"You couldn't have possibly known. There was nothing you could have done."

The Doctor nodded his thanks and Alex gave him a slightly bigger smile.

"Oh and one more thing," the Doctor said, dipping a hand into his jacket pocket. "I've been thinking and… here." He held out the hand, in which was a small silver key. "TARDIS key. My way of saying… that I trust you. And that I'm not leaving you behind."

Alex took the key with a mix of emotions. Surprise was foremost, followed by gratitude and finally overwhelming joy.

But all he said was, "Thanks Doctor." For that was all that needed to be said.

The Doctor smiled and moved away, fiddling with the controls on the console as he went. Alex held up the key and tilted it back and forth, watching the light play over it.

"Doctor," he said. The Time Lord looked over, a question in his raised eyebrows. "I want to get some ice cream."

The Doctor grinned widely. "I know just the place. Planet Cru-udle Seven, best ice cream in the universe, guaranteed."

Alex grinned back as he sat up, slipping the key into his pocket.

"Sounds perfect."

* * *

**Next Time...**

**"The Core must be preserved."**

**"You were difficult enough when there was only one mind in that brain."**

**"There are five million people out there and the only person who can save them can't even form a proper sentence."**

**"Yes I pineapple-guava-mango-gah!"**


	10. Chapter 10: End of the World

"So what was the name of this place again?" Alex asked, talking loudly to be heard over the crowd around them.

"The Grand Market of Glablablog Globaglog Trog," the Doctor replied.

"Sorry I didn't quite catch that."

The Doctor looked at Alex. "You just want me to say Glablablog Globaglog Trog again, don't you?"

"Yep."

The Doctor chuckled and shook his head, Alex keeping step beside him as they walked through the crowd of various species muddled together around the stalls that lined the corridor. "Anyway. This entire station is the largest market in the history of the universe. One hundred and twelve floors full of nothing but shops and stalls and funny little cakes..."

"It's incredible," Alex said, turning on the spot to look at everything. "Oh look at those." He grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him over to one of the stalls. Small devices that reminded the Doctor of his sonic screwdriver were arranged in neat rows with little price tags.

"'Ello luv," said the small purple man with three eyes who was tending the stall. "What can I do for ya?"

"What are these?" Alex asked, picking up one of the devices.

"Multitools luv. Useful for anything from household repairs to spaceship maintenance. And today only we've got a special sale on. 75% off everything from the Mark One to the Mark Five, and 50% off the Mark Six to Ten."

"What about that one?" Alex pointed over the salesman's shoulder, where another device was sitting inside a glass case on a shelf. It was thin and sleek, with a silver body and black grip.

"Ah yes," the man said with a smile. "That's the Multitool R. Brand new, top of the line technology. Hyper-chrome finish and heat regulating grip. The activation button has telepathic circuits built in, so no more clunky voice commands. And, most importantly, it can scan and replicate the functions of almost any other handheld device."

Alex's eyes had gone quite wide as the salesman was talking. "Oh I want one," he said.

The Doctor gave him a look. "Why? The sonic screwdriver's better than any of them."

"Except at wood."

"Do you have to keep bringing that up?"

"A tree was trying to eat me, Doctor. I will continue bringing it up until you install a wood setting on that thing."

"Uh…" the salesman said, looking confused.

"Oh, sorry," said Alex. "You were saying about the Multitool?"

"Oh, yeah. Well the R version isn't part of the sale because it's so new, so it's 2200 credits."

"Wow. Why's there sale on? What's the occasion?"

"Last day off market luv. Everything's closing down."

"Why?"

The salesman gave Alex a curious look. "End of the world luv."

Alex turned to the Doctor with a frown, but the Doctor simply smiled and took Alex's hand, leading him away at a jog. They went the length of the corridor and turned a corner.

"Here we go," the Doctor said. The two had stopped in front of a huge viewing window that stared out into the depths of space, and looked upon the huge, blue star that hung there. Alex could see the surface as it boiled and swirled and exploded in spectacular streams of impossible heights.

"For two thousand years the Market has been orbiting around that star," the Doctor said. "And for the past few hundred the only thing stopping it from exploding has been a network of gravity satellites. But now that the money's run out everyone's packing up and leaving, and in three days that star will explode in one of the most spectacular supernovas the universe has ever seen. This is more than just a star, this is standing on the edge of history. A hundred civilisations will talk about this star for thousands of years. And here we are, seeing it happen." He looked to Alex with a huge grin. "What do you think?"

Alex simply stood there in wonder.

"It's amazing," he said.

* * *

Grand High Cleric Galkoth of the Order of the First Core stood in a wide circle of light in an otherwise darkened room. Before him was a straight-backed chair, and sitting in the chair was Disciple Kelthorp, another member of his order. He was a young child, barely past his first century, his horns only just beginning to grow. Yet he sat in the chair, knowing what was to come, with all the dignity and bravery that the Order demanded. His name would be remembered in the scriptures of the Order for many millennia, Galkoth knew.

"You have passed every test," Galkoth said, his deep voice echoing around the room. "You have prepared yourself in every way. And now here you sit, ready to make the ultimate sacrifice in service to the First Core. You bring honour to both yourself and the Order. Are you prepared?"

Kelthorp nodded. "I am ready."

Galkoth bowed his head. "Then we shall begin."

With a quiet whir a large ring of metal was lowered from the unseen ceiling, supported by wires that disappeared up into the shadows. The circle was more than wide enough fit over Kelthorp's head, and stopped moving when it came equal to his eyes. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then thin tendrils of light crept from the circle, like curious snakes. But before they could go any further, a voice called out.

"Cleric Galkoth, wait!"

Galkoth looked over his shoulder at the Disciple who had entered the room. "What is it?" he said.

The Disciple bowed and said, "Cleric, we have located a more suitable candidate to use as a Holder. We estimate that the Core will be able to survive without any data loss at all."

Galkoth's eyes widened a little at that. "Interesting," he said. "Bring him here so we can properly evaluate his potential."

"Of course, Cleric."

Galkoth turned back to Kelthorp, who was looking at him curiously. "It seems that your sacrifice may not be necessary today, young Disciple."

Kelthorp actually looked a little disappointed as the ring was drawn back up into the darkness above them. "If you say so, Cleric."

Galkoth gave a kindly smile. His devotion was truly admirable. "Do not forget that sacrifice is not the only way to serve the Core. Now, attend to your duties."

Kelthorp rose and bowed. "Of course."

* * *

The Doctor scratched his head and looked around, trying to see past the crowd. Somehow he'd managed to lose track of Alex in all the hubbub and now had no idea where the angel had gone. Still, Alex was more than capable of looking after himself, and most likely would end up finding the Doctor before the Doctor found him.

So focused was the Doctor that he didn't notice the people in robes approaching behind him. He did, however, notice when one of them jabbed something into his side and a surge of electricity rushed through his body. His last thought before falling into unconsciousness was _damn it not again._

* * *

It didn't take Alex long to notice he was by himself. Where the Doctor had gone, he had no idea. "Probably getting into trouble. As usual," Alex muttered to himself. He backtracked to the last place he remembered seeing the Doctor, but there was still no sign.

"Excuse me," Alex called out, approaching on of the stall tenders. "Do you know where my friend went? Bipedal, really skinny, blue suit?"

The merchant's gave him a sad look. "I'm sorry dear," she said. "I saw him, but he got taken by some of that Order of the Core lot."

"The what?"

"They call themselves the Order of the First Core, or something like that. They worship some sort of ancient A.I. they call The Core. Most of the time they don't set foot outside that temple of theirs. Every now and then though they come out and take someone off the streets. Never seen again, they are. "

Alex frowned. "Why? What happens to them?"

"No one knows. No one apart from the Order is allowed to go inside the temple."

"Why doesn't someone do something about it though? There's got to be some sort of security force on this station."

"There is, but they can't do anything. The Order operate on their own laws, and their temple is well defended. If it wasn't they'd probably have been run off the station by now."

Alex sighed. "Guess I'm going to have to do this myself."

"You won't get in dear. Nothing can even get through the force field, let alone the rest of the security systems."

Alex smiled with a warmth that didn't reach his eyes. "We'll see about that. Where is this temple?"

* * *

Galkoth skimmed over the readings on the holoscreen, containing his surprise behind a mask of indifference. This potential vessel that they had captured was extraordinary. The initial estimation of his capabilities had fallen far short of the reality. Every test indicated that the Core would not only be able to survive, but would be able to operate at peak efficiency once the existing personality was deleted.

The door to his study opened. "Is he prepared?" Galkoth asked without looking up.

"Yes Cleric. He is currently being kept sedated. We await your presence in the transfer chamber."

Galkoth dismissed the holoscreen with a wave of his hand, and stood gracefully. "Very well. Let us proceed."

A short walk through the temple later and Galkoth was standing, once again, before the wooden chair in the darkened room. Slightly behind him to his left and right were Merineer and Harniter, two of the higher ranking clerics of the order. The scriptures stated that, when an outsider was being used as a Holder, three High Clerics had to give their consent for the transfer to take place.

"I, Grand High Cleric Galkoth, give my consent that this transfer take place."

"I, First High Cleric Merineer, give my consent that this transfer take place."

"I, Second High Cleric Harniter, give my consent that this transfer take place."

"In service of the Core," the three chorused.

The ring began to lower from the shadows, suspended by its wires. The soon to be Holder was slumped unconscious in the chair. Then there was a quiet hiss from behind the clerics as the door to the chamber opened. There was no beam of light, as the corridor outside was kept dark.

"I apologise Clerics," came a voice. Galkoth recognised it as one of the younger preachers. "But there may be a problem."

The clerics turned and Galkoth said, "What is it?" His tone was not unkindly. He knew that it must be serious to warrant interrupting the transfer.

A small holoscreen lit up, showing a view from one of the outer security cameras. "This man's companion is heading for the temple. And he does not look happy."

Galkoth raised an eyebrow at the image on the screen. "Activate the defences and continue to observe. He cannot be allowed to proceed."

"Of course Cleric," the young preacher bowed, before tapping at the screen. Galkoth turned back to the chair as the tendrils of light extended from the ring, slowly creeping towards the soon-to-be Holder.

"Uh... Apologies Cleric," said the preacher, frowning at the screen. "But I'm not sure what is happening."

Galkoth quickly bit back a sigh and looked over at the holoscreen. Whatever annoyance he was supressing vanished. The strange angel was standing before the first force field, and solid wall of blue energy. His hands were pressed against it and his eyes were closed. Ripples spread over the surface of the shield and arcs of electricity flowed up his arms.

"What is he doing?" Galkoth asked.

"I'm not sure," the preacher said, "but I think he's draining the shield. The power cells are already at half capacity."

Galkoth frowned. "Unusual," was all he said.

"The shield's gone," the preacher said. On the screen the blue wall flickered and died, and the angel kept walking as though it was nothing.

"What's is the progress on the transfer?" Galkoth asked the other clerics.

"Twenty three percent," Merineer answered.

"He's reached the second shield," the preacher said. "He's taking it down in the same way."

"Can we increase the transfer speed at all?" Galkoth asked.

Merineer shook his head. "All available data systems are already being used."

Galkoth thought for a second, watching as the second shield died too. "Seal the temple," he said. "We must buy ourselves as much time as possible."

Merineer and Harniter nodded and began relaying instructions through their holoscreens. "Where is he now?" Galkoth asked the preacher.

"Approaching the turrets." The preacher paused for a moment, then asked, "Cleric do you think we can stop him?"

"Something tells me we cannot. Therefore the question becomes 'can we complete the transfer before he arrives?'" Galkoth watched grimly as blur weaved between the energy blasts from the turrets before ripping them from the ceiling. "I don't like the look of our chances."

"He's reached the temple entrance," the preacher said. "The door's triple bolted and deadlock sealed. I don't see how he's going to…" The preacher's eyes widened as the angel grabbed the edge of the door and, after a moment's strain, pulled the whole thing off its hinges. Galkoth winced as the crash echoed through the temple halls. "That's impossible," the preacher whispered.

"Not impossible," Galkoth said. "But very unorthodox. How far are we on the transfer?"

"Sixty four percent," said Merineer. "The personality matrix has been fully uploaded and integrated. If we need to we can execute an emergency stop of the transfer without sacrificing the Core's central systems."

Galkoth thought for a moment. "Even if we were to stop the transfer now, we would not be able to reach the shuttles in time. Continue as planned."

Merineer nodded as Harniter spoke up. "Grand Cleric we have completely locked down the temple, though this does not seem to be slowing him down much."

Galkoth nodded, watching as the angel ripped open another triple bolted and deadlocked door, coming closer and closer to the transfer room with each new gaping hole.

_How does he know which way to go, _Galkoth wondered. Wonderment quickly turned to alarm when he noticed how close he was to the chamber.

"Progress?' he asked Merineer without looking away.

"Seventy nine – no, eighty percent."

"Are you sure there's no way to-."

_Knock-knock-knock. _Everyone looked at the door. There was moment of silence.

BANG!

Everyone started as the door caved in a little.

BANG!

The dent grew deeper.

BANG-CRASH!

The room shook as the door came off its supports and fell to the ground.

* * *

Alex stepped forward into the dimly lit room, eyeing the four standing occupants. They were all vaguely human looking, but were also clearly not. The one in the less fancy robe than the others that was slowly backing away had sharp looking spines instead of hair. The one standing next to him was taller than any human Alex had ever seen, with a trio of horns jutting from his brow. Directly across from Alex stood two more robed people, one with bright blue skin and luminous purple stripes, and the other covered in gold scales. Behind them, sitting in a wooden chair, was the Doctor.

Alex made to walk across the room, but found his way blocked when the tall, horned one swept in front of him, glaring down his nose like Alex was some sort of errant child.

"You would dare to desecrate the-."

"Okay let me make something perfectly clear," Alex interrupted. "If you say anything even mildly pretentious I will throw you the length of the corridor. Understood?"

Galkoth fumed, but didn't speak. "Excellent," said Alex. "Now here's what were all going to do. You are going to let my friend go, unharmed and alive. Then you are going to let us go, none of us will mention this again and I will not do something extraordinarily violent. Does that sound fair to-"

"Transfer complete."

Alex frowned and Galkoth smiled triumphantly. "It seems you are too late," Galkoth said, stepping to the side. The Doctor was sitting upright in the chair and the ring that had been hanging around his head was rising back up into the darkness.

"All data successfully transferred," he said distantly. "Beginning self-diagnostic."

"What did you do to him?" Alex asked, a note of warning in his voice.

"He has become a vessel for the First Core," Galkoth replied. "Through him the Core will survive the destruction of this station. It is a great and glorious-."

"What did I say about being pretentious?" Alex snapped. "Whatever you've done to him I want it undone."

Galkoth drew himself up. "We cannot remove the Core, it goes against all the teachings of our order."

"Look I get that you want to save your super special A.I. and that's very sweet. But why don't you just put it in some sort of portable data storage that isn't alive?"

"The Core requires a very specific set of circumstances to be able to function properly," Galkoth said. "No other form of data storage would be able to support it."

Alex stared at Galkoth for a moment. "I believe the saying is 'bull excrement'," he said.

Galkoth drew himself up even further, nostrils flaring.

"Self-diagnostic complete," the Doctor monotone before he could say anything. "Operating at fifty percent capacity. Error; existing personality matrix detected. Estimation; deletion of the existing personality matrix would allow operation at one hundred percent capacity. Enquiry; should the existing personality matrix be deleted?"

"Yes," Galkoth said before Alex could respond.

"Affirmation received. The deletion process will begin momentarily."

Galkoth turned to Alex with a triumphant grin. "There is nothing you can do to stop this now. Your friend has become a vessel for the glory of the First Core. His spirit will ascend to a greater plane of-."

At that point things happened very fast and Galkoth felt himself get picked up by the collar and thrown. He had time to let out a short yell before his face made painful acquaintance with a very solid wall, and he collapsed in a groaning heap.

Back in the transfer room, Alex let a satisfied grin cross his face. "I did warn him," he muttered, before turning back to the room. He was pleased to note that everyone was looking warily at him and shuffling away while avoiding his gaze.

"Beginning deletion of existing personality matrix," the Doctor said.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Alex said.

There was a pause. "Enquiry; why not?"

"Because that 'personality matrix' you're about to delete happens to be a friend of mine, and if you delete him I will be very, very angry. There will also be nothing stopping me from killing you. Understand?"

Another pause. "Error; contradiction detected. You claim that this unit is your friend, yet you also claim that you will terminate this unit if the deletion process is completed. Records on sentient lifeform psychology indicate that sentimentality will prevent you from terminating this unit."

"I have a questionable moral compass at the best of times," Alex said. "Even more so when I'm angry."

Another pause as the Doctor parsed Alex's statement. "Self-preservation dictates that I take you at your word. Deletion process will be terminated."

Alex breathed a quiet sigh of relief, cut short when the Doctor started talking again. "Error; this data store is not constructed to hold two personality matrices simultaneously. This may cause the data store to burn out. Enquiry; what do you suggest?"

"Um… can you put yourself back in the big computer?"

"Affirmative; data transfer process is reversible."

"Then do that and get one of your sycophants to carry you around, instead of some random guy they kidnapped off the streets."

"Your proposal is agreeable."

* * *

The network of grav-anchors the kept the Market safe from its star was a wonder of engineering. Twelve satellites, continually orbiting the star and keeping it from expanding. Every one of them with an on-board AI communicating with each other, scanning the star for gravitational anomalies, and planning the most efficient flight paths. But after several hundred years, even the most extraordinary feats of engineering can get a little… buggy.

It was only a small glitch. Hardly worth noticing. A simple misplaced decimal point in one of the satellite's nav-map. But it was this tiny mistake that sent it careening directly into the path of another satellite, destroying them both in an instant. The other satellites began to cover for the sudden loss, putting even greater strain on their nearly ancient technology. But they may have been able to hold the star in place for a few more days, had one of them not had a coolant leak. Within minutes its reactor had gone critical, and the whole thing detonated, opening a huge hole in the gravity field.

* * *

The Doctor was just sitting back down in the chair when a violent tremor ran through the floor.

"What was that?" Alex asked.

Everyone was knocked off their feet as a massive quake ran through the whole station, the floor bucking and writhing, the walls starting to buckle, sparks fell from the ceiling and the lights in the corridors exploded, raining more sparks and broken glass. Then it was gone, as quickly as it had come.

Alex groaned, slowly pushing himself to his feet. "What the hell?" he asked of no one in particular. He glanced around the room as everyone else picked themselves off the floor. The Doctor was still sitting in the chair, clenching the armrest so hard his knuckles were turning white.

"Enquiry; is it over?" he asked.

"I think so," Alex replied. "Has anything like that ever happened before," he asked one of the people in robes.

"Never," said the one with golden scales, shaking his head.

"Excuse me," the Doctor said. "The existing personality matrix wishes to speak with you."

Alex stared for a second. "Well then let him!" he snapped.

The Doctor blinked, then jumped up from the chair. "Alex!" he said. "Something's tong. No, sorry, wrong. Something's wrong." He grimaced and rubbed at his temple.

"Are you ok?" Alex asked.

"Hard to think," the Doctor groaned. "Too much background noise."

"Take it easy Doctor," Alex helping him back into the chair. "We'll get the AI out of your head, _then_ we'll figure out what's happening with the station."

"Uh… there may be a problem with that," the youngest cleric said.

"What do you mean?"

"That tremor took all our power offline. We're running on a reserve generator right now, but it can't generate enough power for a transfer of that magnitude. If we attempted it could permanently damage one or both of them."

Alex let out an annoyed growl. _Always something_, he thought. "Is there any way to get the power we need?

The cleric shook his head. "The Temple runs on its own power system. The station's power core is undamaged, but we have no way of connecting to it."

"We don't have time for this," the Doctor said pushing himself out of the chair with a stumble. "Something's wrong."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"This station is equipped with gravity stabilisers, it shouldn't have shaken like that."

"So what you're saying is something has probably gone horribly wrong."

The Doctor grinned. "Probably. We need to get to the central control deck – if the Temple is running on reserve power we should still be able to use the teleport – gah!"

"Uh… Doctor?"

"That wasn't me. That was the AI – Also I apologise for interrupting – will you please stop doing that?!"

Alex stared, bewildered, as the Doctor held a conversation with himself.

"It was very rude of me to interrupt you in the middle of your sentence, so I felt that I should apolo – maybe ask next time you want to say something, it feels like heads about to split open whenever you – I apologise for any discomfort or pain I might be causing you-."

"Will you just shut up and let the Doctor talk?!"

"Of course, I merely felt that the information I possessed regard the Temple's teleport system would helpful to you – thank you now shut up."

Alex shook his head and turned to the cleric. "Where's your teleporter?" he sighed.

"This way."

The cleric left the room, Alex followed and the Doctor nearly fell over. "What now?" Alex asked, turning back to the wobbly Time Lord.

"The AI has control over the left leg – quite by coincidence, and I'm afraid I'm a little out of practice when it comes to organic motor function."

Alex sighed, again, and slung the Doctor's arm over his shoulders. "And to think," he said, as he supported the hobbling Doctor down the corridor. "This day started out so nice."

* * *

Don't just tell me what's going wrong," Murray Vordenite, current captain of Market Station, yelled into his communicator. "Tell me what we're going to do to fix it."

"Sir, there's an incoming teleport," one of his orderlies said. Murray growled under his breath. The only ones on the station with a teleport were the Order of the Core, and they were the last people he wanted to deal with right now. So he was rather surprised when the beam of light resolved itself into a young looking humanoid with wings supporting a taller humanoid who looked to be talking to himself.

"Hello," the winged one said brightly. "I'm Alex, this is the Doctor, we have no credentials, no plan, no reason for you to trust us, but I've had a really weird day so I'd appreciate it if we could just move past all that and skip straight to the part where you tell us what's going wrong and we fix it."

Unsurprisingly, no one quite knew what to say following that announcement.

"Uh…" the captain stammered. "W… What…?"

"Let's start with the basics," Alex said, dropping the Doctor into an empty chair. "What's your name?"

"Er… Captain Murray Vordenite. I'm sorry, who did you say you were?"

"No one special. Actually, that's a lie. I'm probably the most unique person you're ever going to meet. But back to the matter at hand. What was with that quake just now?"

"Well it," Murray began before shaking his head and marshalling his thoughts. "I'm sorry, but what authority do you have to be here?"

"Like I said before, none whatsoever."

"Right. Well then I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Then the floor started trembling again. There was no bucking or shaking this time, only a long, drawn out tremble that caused groans to echo through the whole station. Alex gave Murray a pointed look.

"I... suppose we need all the help we can get," he said. "The quake was caused by a massive solar flare hitting the station's shields."

"Shouldn't the gravity satellites be holding those in?" Alex asked, joining the captain at one of the readout screens.

"That's where it all started. Three of the gravity satellites were destroyed before we could do anything about it. The hole they left only lasted for about five seconds, but it was long enough for the flare to get out. The rest of the satellites are holding for now, but they won't last."

"So the world's ending ahead of schedule," Alex said, examining the figures on the screen. "You said there were shields. Would they be able to hold back the supernova?"

Murray frowned. "I'm… not sure. Maybe."

"It won't," the Doctor said from his chair. "This station's equipped with radiation vanes, right?" Murray nodded. "Thought so."

"Radiation vanes?" Alex asked.

"There the power source for the station – situated at the dorsal and ventral points of the station – they take the electromagnetic radiation being emitted by the sun and channel it straight into the power capacitors. The shield will be able to stop the solar particles-."

"But everything else will go straight into the capacitors," Murray finished with a look of understanding. "Massive power overload and the whole core goes critical."

The room was silent for a moment. "How long do we have," Alex asked, "before the sun goes supernova?"

"By our best estimations, six minutes."

Alex swallowed. "Doctor," he said. "Any plans?"

The Doctor shrugged, closed his eyes, strained for a few moments, then gasped and cradled his head in his hands. "No," he said. "Too much going on, I can't think – and I estimate that this unit will only survive for another eight minutes."

Alex growled and started pacing. "C'mon think-think-think. I'm not going to die here. There's got to be a way there always is."

"There's nothing we can do," Murray said grimly. "We don't have the time or equipment to replace the gravity satellites, and we don't have the transportation to abandon the station."

"No there has to be something we can do, because I'd really rather not die here today." Alex grit his teeth and closed his eyes, willing his brain to offer up something. Anything.

_The power source for the station – six minutes – the shield will be able to stop the solar particles – channel it straight into the power capacitors._

And then he had a plan.

"I've got it!" he shouted.

"What?" Murray asked.

"I know how to save the station! I need you to get me down to somewhere I can access the power capacitors."

"Er… that would be the power maintenance deck."

"Good, what's the quickest way there?"

"Oh, that would be," Murray took a second to rummage through his pockets, "my personal teleport. You need administrator access to use it though, so I'll have to come with you."

"Fine by me," Alex said, hurrying over to the Doctor. "Come on Doctor," he grunted as he lifted the Time Lord from his chair. "Let's go save the world."

* * *

And in a flash of light they were in a wide room filled with machinery. A persistent low thrum filled the air and a load of screens covered one wall.

"Right," Alex said. "Where's the access to the capacitors?"

"I'm not sure," Murray admitted. "You'll have to ask one of the engineers."

"No time," Alex said, dropping the Doctor where he was and snagging a passing engineer, spinning her around. He looked into her eyes and in an instant had delved into her mind. He worked quickly, finding all the information he needed about the station, before leaving a quick mental apology and withdrawing. The girl slumped in his arms and he laid her carefully on the floor.

"W-What?" Murray managed.

"I didn't have time to be gentle, the mental stress was a bit much," Alex said, already standing at one of the consoles. "But she'll be fine, assuming my plan actually works and we don't all die." He left the console and pulled a panel off one of the machines, pulling out some wires and twisting them together. He flicked a switch, then ran back to the console and started pressing buttons.

"Ah, damn," he hissed as the screen flashed red. "I can't get the circuits to redirect properly, that last tremor must have shaken the bypasses loose. Doctor, I'm going to need the sonic."

The Doctor, who now had an arm draped around Murray, looked up in surprise. "What?"

"Sonic. Now. Give."

The Doctor struggled for a moment, then reached into his suit and pulled out the screwdriver, tossing it over. Alex caught it handily and spun back to the screen.

"Point and think, point and think," he muttered to himself. "Please work this time." He pointed the screwdriver at the screen and pushed the button.

"Supernova in three minutes," said the station's computer.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," Alex muttered, the sonic whistling in his hand. There was a beep and the screen flashed blue. Alex smiled in relief and slipped the sonic into his pocket. "Alright, let's see here," he said as he tapped at the screen. "Redirect this, close off that."

"What are you doing?" Murray asked, still supporting the Doctor.

"Changing the power redirection protocols," Alex said as he opened another hatch on one of the larger machines. "When the supernova hits all the power the radiation vanes absorb will go straight from the capacitor to the shield generators, should give them a two hundred percent power boost. More or less, I'm estimating really," he admitted, reaching in and pulling out a much thicker wire.

"But the generators will only take so much," Murray pointed out.

"I know. The capacitor will still go critical, even with the connection to the generator," Alex replied as he ran back over to the monitor. "Which is what this is for." He pushed a button and a podium, covered in pug sockets and topped with a pair of thick metal prongs, rose out of the floor.

"That," Alex said, pre-empting Murray's question. "Is the manual power redirection hub. If the automatic systems go down the engineers can use it to send power wherever they need to. The prongs at the top would normally be connected to another cable to send the unused power back to the capacitor, but I've disconnected it."

"Okay," Murray said slowly. "But how does that help us?"

Alex turned to him and smiled.

"One minute to supernova," said the computer.

The Doctor stood up a little straighter, finally making the connection. "Alex, you can't," he said.

"What? What can't he?" Murray asked.

"I should be able to take it," Alex replied.

"Take what?" Murray asked again.

"Alex, it'll kill you," the Doctor said through gritted teeth.

"Will someone please explain to me what is going on?" Murray said loudly.

"I'll be holding on to those prongs," Alex said. "I can feed on virtually any type of energy. When that star explodes the excess power will come straight up here where I can absorb it."

Murray went a little bug eyed at that. "But… but… what?"

"Alex," the Doctor said. "There's no way you'll survive absorbing that much."

"You don't know that," Alex said. "Neither do I. But I have to try. All those times you risked your life to save mine. All those times you almost died saving people. Now it's my turn. This time, I'm going to save your life, no matter the risk. Because that's what we do." Alex stepped forward, taking a prong in each hand.

"Ten seconds to supernova," the computer said.

"And Doctor."

"Nine."

"If I don't make it."

"Eight."

"I just want you to know."

"Seven."

"Alex," the Doctor said.

"Six."

"That meeting you was the best thing-."

"Five."

"-that could ever have happened to me."

"Four."

Alex took a deep breath. "Stand back and hold onto something."

"Three."

Murray backed away, dragging the Doctor with him.

"Two."

Alex closed his eyes.

"One."

Murray would often recount the events that came next to his children and grandchildren. The world began to churn and tremor as the first wave hit. Sparks and flame began to gout from the machines. And in the middle of it all, Alex began to glow. Arcs of electricity crawled up his arms and the glow became brighter, until it was almost blinding. Over the roaring, groaning, moaning of the station he could hear Alex start to scream. The screams rose and rose and Alex hunched over the pillar, then the light grew so strong Murray had to look away. The screams faded to silence but the light only grew brighter. Then slowly, very slowly, the shaking eased. The groaning quietened. The machines stopped spraying sparks and flame. The lights flickered once more, and then it was over.

Murray raised a hand, shielding his eyes from the light that still shone from Alex. That too started to dim, and eventually Murray could see. Alex was slumped over the pillar, still clutching the prongs with a death grip. For a long while he didn't move, and Murray didn't dare approach him. Through the decks above and below he could hear people shouting in relief and celebration.

Alex shifted slightly and groaned a long, pained groan. "Oh my god," he muttered. "Oh my god that hurt."

Murray breathed a sigh of relief as Alex straightened and got to his feet. There was a hiss of pain as he uncurled his cramped fingers, but otherwise he looked unharmed.

"Alex?" the Doctor said as he struggled to get to his feet. Alex gave him a weary smile.

"I'm fine," he said. "Told you I would be."

Murray helped the Doctor to his feet and fished his communicator from his pocket with his other hand.

"Come in bridge, this is the Captain," he said.

There was a brief pause, then, "We're reading you loud and clear Captain. The station's intact. It rode the explosion well clear of the star. We've got multiple emergency services contacting us, sir, I think you'd better get up here."

"I'm on my way," Murray said, propping the Doctor against a wall. He looked to Alex. "Are you two going to be alright?"

Alex nodded. "You have a ship to look after Murray."

Murray frowned. "I think that should be 'Captain'."

Alex grinned, though it looked tired and a bit strained. "There's only one man I call Captain," he said, "and you're not him." Murray gave him a look and teleported away.

Alex gathered his thoughts for a moment. "Alright then Doctor," he said. "Let's get that AI out of your head."

To Alex's surprise, the Doctor shook his head. "'S too late," he panted.

Alex frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The Doctor is right. This vessel will burn up in approximately two minutes – not enough time to even get back to the Temple, let alone repair the generator."

"No," Alex said, eyes wide. "No, no, no-no-no-no. I just saved the entire station, I'm not going to let you die after all that."

"There's nothing you can do. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to regenerate. Get back to the TARDIS, and-." SLAP!

The Doctor stopped short. He had hardly seen Alex move, but he'd definitely felt the sharp slap on the cheek. "No." Alex brought his face close to the Doctor's, pointing a finger in his face. "You do not give up. You think of something. I'm only clever because I've been inside your mind. And it's not just you in there right now, you have a helper. A helper who I'm pretty sure would like to not die as much as you do. So stop complaining, stop giving up, and start thinking of a way out."

"…Yes. Yes you're right!" Alex leapt back as the Doctor suddenly straightened and began walking confidently around the room. "Even running at minimal capacity our cognitive processes are exceptional – warn me next time you're going to walk around – apologies I was enthusiastic – so what do we need? – we need the transfer mechanism from the temple or something like it – no point going back to the temple, the generator's busted – the mechanism is wired into the temple itself so we won't be able to remove it – where can we get something similar? – the mechanism is unique, designed and built by temple engineers – so we need to replicate it? – yes, but I don't know how – come back to that later, what about storage? – My code is capable of rewriting itself to survive in any form of data store – then why'd they use people? – I believe it was a tradition – who comes up with these things? – I believe we are getting off topic – if you can use any kind of data store, then that gives us options. We just need to replicate-."

The Doctor froze, stopping mid rant. Then he whirled, pointing at Alex. "Multitool!" he yelled with a wide smile.

"Huh?" Alex managed, thrown off by the surge of activity. Then he remembered the the little purple man he'd talked to, and the very special device he'd pointed out. "Do you think it'll work? The mechanism wasn't exactly handheld."

"It's about the only shot we have – I estimate a sixty four percent chance of success."

"Good enough for me. Don't die." There was a blur and Alex was gone.

* * *

Hi," Alex said once he'd slowed down, making the little purple man jump. "I'm going to cut right to the chase, I'm going to need the special replicating Multitool."

The purple man, though a little overwhelmed by the events of today, nonetheless put on his business face. "Alrighty then luv. It's 2200 credits."

"How about, seeing as I just saved you and everyone else on the station at enormous personal risk, you give it to me for free and we call things even." The purple man floundered for a moment. "And just so you know, I could have stolen it if I wanted. Still could. But if you give it to me, you'll feel better inside."

* * *

Galkoth was just getting back to his feet when something unseen punched him very hard in the face, sending him back to the land of nod.

* * *

The transfer room was empty, which Alex was glad for. It would save a lot of questions and time. He could feel the telepathic channel coming from his shiny new Multitool R as he pointed it at the loosely dangling transfer mechanism. Pushing the button, he sent the thought _scan_ along the channel. The tool beeped. There was a pause, and Alex could feel the tension twisting his gut.

_Scan complete. Replication successful._ He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to go, stumbling against the doorway as a wave of dizziness overcame him. With a growl he shook it off and moved on.

* * *

The Doctor was leaning against the wall again when Alex returned. "Got it," he said.

The Doctor broke out into a hopeful smile. "Really?"

"Yep. Now, stand still." Alex pointed the tool at the Doctor and a thin beam shot from the tip and struck his forehead. Alex considered saying something along the lines of 'the power of Christ compels thee' but decided that would be in poor taste. For a long few moments they stood there, the Doctor with a stunned look and Alex just holding the multitool out. Then the beam cut off and the tool gave a satisfied beep.

_Upload successful._

"Perfect," Alex said. "Feeling better?"

"Loads," the Doctor sighed, closing his eyes. "I can think straight now."

Before Alex could respond a calm, female voice came from the multitool. "Code rewrite complete. Data integration stable. Operating at maximum capacity." There was a pause. "This is nice."

"Are you okay in there?" Alex asked, holding the multitool to eye level.

"Oh yes," said the voice. "This multitool has more than enough data storage space for me to operate. In fact you could probably fit three of me in here and have room to spare. Like the Doctor said, it's nice to be able to think freely again."

"Okay then," Alex said slowly. There was something very awkward about talking to the person who had so recently been possessing his best friend. "Do you want me to give you back to that Order lot?"

"Actually… not really. All I get to do is sit around in their temple calculating the value of pi for fun. It's boring. Going with you sounds much more exciting."

"Er… well," Alex looked at the Doctor. "What do you think?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Yeah, why not?"

Alex shrugged too. "Welcome aboard then."

"Yay. Oh good my emotional processor is back online."

'So what do we call you?" the Doctor asked.

"Hmm… I prefer to self-identify as female… I like the name Jenny. Jenny. Jennnny. Jen-Jen-Jenny. It has a nice ring to it."

"Jenny it is, why not?" the Doctor said. Then he looked to Alex. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, Doctor," Alex said.

"No you aren't."

The Doctor and Alex starred at the multitool. "I performed a scan of you," Jenny continued. "Your body is literally shutting down, your cells are dying off faster than they can be replaced, your heart rate is lower than normal and your synapses are burning up as we speak."

"…Alex?" the Doctor said.

Alex wanted to say he felt fine. He wanted to say he'd never felt better. But he could feel it. The slight weakness all over his body, the gently pulsing ache behind his eyes. And he found that he couldn't say anything. Then the Doctor was by his side.

"C'mon," he said. "We need to get you back to the TARDIS. Just like you said, we're not giving up. Let's go."

The walk back to the TARDIS started well. But Alex started moving slower and slower, his breathing becoming more and more laboured. He wasn't sure when the Doctor had gotten underneath his arm, all he knew was that by the time they arrived at the TARDIS, the Doctor was supporting him more than he was, and that it was hard to focus on anything beyond the dizziness and the burning pain behind his eyes.

"C'mon. Hang in there Alex," the Doctor muttered, roughly pushing the TARDIS door open. He gently dropped him into a chair and ran around the console, setting the TARDIS for flight. The wheezing and groaning of the engines filled the control room as the Doctor pulled a lever and started entering coordinates. He glanced over at Alex. The angel was sitting where he'd left him, eyes closed. The multitool had fallen from his limp grip and was sitting on the seat next to him. The Doctor shook his head and focused on flying.

* * *

He could hear it. As the sound of the TARDIS in flight filled his ears, he found he could hear something else. Or maybe not hear exactly. It was like something on the very edge of a sense he didn't know he had.

Alex's eyes flicked open and starred up at the time rotor as it moved up and down.

And it was more than something. There was meaning to it.

Finding strength he didn't know he had, he pushed himself out of the chair, ignoring the screaming pain the movement induced.

Almost an invitation. And a promise too.

He virtually fell against the console, his strength gone and his vision darkening. With what felt like a colossal effort, he raised a hand and sapped it on the outer glass of the time rotor. The Doctor looked up in surprise on the other side of the console. With his last moment of true consciousness, Alex shot him an apologetic look.

Who was he to refuse such things?

And so Alex gathered himself, and pushed.

* * *

The Doctor starred through the glass as Alex's whole body began to glow, then exploded with light, golden fire rushing up his arm and into the time rotor. The Doctor leapt back, shielding his eyes as the centre of the room was consumed in a roaring golden tempest. The TARDIS began to rattle and shake even more powerfully than usually, throwing the Doctor against the safety rail. He hung on for dear life with his eyes closed tight, as the TARDIS was flung wildly through the time vortex, with no direction and no control.

* * *

**I LIIIIIIIVE!**

**YES! I am back into the swing of things, more or less, and I am really, really sorry about the massive delay with this chapter. I lost interest in writing for a while over the summer and procrastinated massively with this and A Better Place to Be. I can't guarantee that something like this won't happen again, because the day that I learn to stop procrastinating will probably be around the same time that hell freezes over. But I'll do my best.**

**For those waiting on A Better Place to Be, I'm not too sure when the next chapter is going to be out. I'll do my best to have it out soon though.**

**In other news I now have a DeviantArt account, where I'll be posting my non-fanfic stories. For the moment most of these are in the planing stage, so don't expect to see anything on there any time soon. Link should be on my profile, seeing as Fanfiction apparently won't allow me to put in here.**

**So yeah that's it from me for now. A big thanks to everyone who's favourited and followed and remained patient while I procrasinated my backside off. See you all next time!**


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